Site specific dimensions; 11 x 22 feet overall.
Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.
This has caused communities to mourn the loss of what was and to attempt to prevent further devastation.
Ohan Breiding, “Belly of a Glacier (To dress a wound from what shines from it) II,” 2025. Giclée prints. Site specific dimensions; 11 x 22 feet overall. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
Because, despite this recent attention, scientists predict that theRhone Glacier will disappearby 2050.
Their work demonstrates how this ice represents something highly personal and why its disappearance feels like such a loss.
Once it is gone, that past is somehow washed away.
Ohan Breiding, “Belly of a Glacier,” 2024. HD video, with audio, 32:55 min. Ed of 2 + 1AP. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
These memories are incorporated into the film, which takes viewers into the melting core of the glacier.
Ohan Breiding: Belly of a Glacieris on view at MASS MoCA through December 14, 2025.
We had the opportunity to speak with the artist about this moving project and what it means to them.
Ohan Breiding, Belly of a Glacier, 2024. HD video, with sound, 32:55 min. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI Gallery, Los Angeles
Read on for My Modern Met’s exclusive interview.
Ohan Breiding, Belly of a Glacier, 2024.
HD video, with audio, 32:55 min.
Ohan Breiding, “Even the stones are alive a letter to the future),” 2024. Bronze and fiberglass. 15 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 27 ½ in. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI (Photo: Jon Verney)
Ed of 2 + 1AP.
Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.
(Photo: Jon Verney)
How did your childhood influence your decision to undertake this project?
Ohan Breiding, “Belly of a Glacier,” 2024. HD video, with audio, 32:55 min. Ed of 2 + 1AP. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
My mother took this photograph.
She acts as my alter ego, recalling an early childhood memory: It is December.
I walk out into the snow.
Ohan Breiding, Belly of a Glacier, 2024. HD video, with sound, 32:55 min. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI Gallery, Los Angeles
With each step, I sink down a little.
My body compresses the ground beneath me.
Making a crunching sound.
Ohan Breiding, “Souvenir 7 (Aerial view of the Rhône River, Obergoms, 1969),” 2024. Ink on paper, graphite. 4 x 6 in (drawing only). Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
Everything is slick and blueish white.
Large snowflakes fall down onto me.
One lands in my palm.
Ohan Breiding, “Souvenir 2 (Two mountain goats. One is drinking water. One is staring at the camera, 2000),” 2024. Ink on paper, graphite. 4 x 6 in (drawing only). Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
It is perfectly symmetrical, with six points radiating from the center like a flower.
I watch it change shape.
The heat from my body making it disappear.
Ohan Breiding, “Belly of a Glacier (To dress a wound from what shines from it) II,” 2025. Giclée prints. Courtesy of the artist and OCHI. (Photo: Jon Verney)
This statement implicates my body in the melting of the snowflake.
Ohan Breiding, Belly of a Glacier, 2024.
HD video, with sound, 32:55 min.
“To dress a wound from the light that shines from it (Belly of a Glacier),” 111 Giclée Prints on Fine Art Luster Paper. 128.55 in x 266.93 in or 326.5cm x 678 cm
I love working outdoors in landscapes that are much older than me.
Glaciers are spiritual landscapes for me.
They offer a space for slowing down, deep listening, embodied knowledge, and learning via the senses.
The natural world is also inherently queer: shapes are varied, in flux, unique.
Nothing is perfectly straight outdoors.
Water transitions between gas, liquid, and solid states, much like the fluidity of trans-identities.
Mountains move and grow.
Ohan Breiding, Even the stones are alive a letter to the future), 2024.
15 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 27 12 in.
Why do you think that is, and how did that move you?
Glacier funerals have since been held around the world to mark the melting of glacial bodies.
How do we prepare for this imminent loss?
Does mourning help us feel the urgency of this loss, as a problem of anthropomorphic climate destruction?
What was the most challenging part of bringing your vision to life?
The most challenging parts were also the most invigorating ones.
Did anything unexpected happen in the creation ofBelly of a Glacier?
It is emotional memorywhat the nerves and the skin remember as well as how it appeared.
And a rush of imagination is our flooding.
Ohan Breiding, Souvenir 7 (Aerial view of the Rhone River, Obergoms, 1969), 2024.
Ink on paper, graphite.
4 x 6 in (drawing only).
Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.
(Photo: Jon Verney)
Ohan Breiding, Souvenir 2 (Two mountain goats.
One is drinking water.
One is staring at the camera, 2000), 2024.
Ink on paper, graphite.
4 x 6 in (drawing only).
Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.
(Photo: Jon Verney)
The exhibition also includes a series of postcards.
Can you explain their function and how they work to solidify this story?
The postcards act as souvenirs vis a vis the monument, the glacier.
One is drinking water.
One is staring at the camera, 2000.
Courtesy of the artist and OCHI.
(Photo: Jon Verney)
What do you hope people take away fromBelly of a Glacier?
128.55 in x 266.93 in or 326.5cm x 678 cm
What’s next for you?
