Ellenor Rose Nish
About the artwork
In Norwegian folklore, clouds originated from the brains of the ice giant Ymir, which were thrown into the sky. Clouds can be thought of as the Earth’s brains, allowing us to think through them.
Clouds are responding to climate change in a subtle and complex manner. The future state of clouds is filled with uncertainty. This uncertainty arises because clouds are difficult to observe and model, due to the microphysical scales that make them.
One example of clouds in the future and a warming cloud feedback cycle works as follows: As the atmosphere warms, microbial activity in soils and oceans will increase. These microbes release small particles into the air that are particularly effective at forming ice. A cloud can be composed of water, ice, or a mixture of both. When a cloud is made of ice, it has a shorter lifespan because ice particles are heavy and fall as precipitation sooner than water droplets. Consequently, the cloud has a shorter life and reflects less sunlight.
About the artist
Ellenor Rose Nish (b. 1997, Nhulunbuy, Australia) is an artist with a science-based practice led by Botany and Earth sciences. She completed a Bachelor of Biology at the Australian National University. Her artistic research contributes to the world in important ways, for example, by preserving biological diversity into the deep future and deepening the relationship between nature and people. She works in a way that fosters softness and care.
