Ice-peak Ober Aletsch glacier before 1866

Ernest Edwards captured this view of the Ice-peak Ober Aletsch glacier with a camera, though the date of the work is unknown. Edwards lived in a Victorian England that was expanding its reach through exploration, scientific discovery, and colonial exploits. This image freezes a moment in the exploration of nature, transforming a remote landscape into a spectacle for an expanding audience. Though presented as a neutral record, the photograph is deeply entangled with the politics of its time, subtly reinforcing notions of human dominance over the natural world. Consider the emotional undercurrents in this work: there is an undeniable thrill in the image, but this is balanced by the unsettling awareness of the glacier's cold, indifferent grandeur. Does it act as a symbol of human triumph or of nature's sublime power? Perhaps it is both, reflecting the complex relationship between humans and the environment, a relationship that continues to evolve today.