Melting Mountains

Abstract

Lydia Hannah Debeer, like an accidental passerby, collects images that capture her heart, creating not documentaries but rather sensory poetry born of real landscapes. Melting Mountains (2023) arose from such a chance encounter in the Scottish Highlands. Enveloped by the serene, vast landscape, Debeer felt at home. It was a warm day, sunlit. The snow, which would otherwise cling to your feet, gradually dissipated under the touch of sunbeams. The evaporating snow is visible in the image as a vibration. Flowing streams gradually give rise to a slowly swelling sound. Stepping onto the salt-covered installation floor merges you into both the soundtrack and the immersive landscape experience. In the local Celtic culture, there exists a notion of “thin places”, where the divide between the “other world” and ours is thinner than elsewhere. So thin it collapses. A place where the landscape is imbued with mystery. This place hangs suspended between a porous connection and a solid surface.