A Russian art exhibit under sea ice aims to draw attention to climate change

"It may happen that creatures, whose life is frozen under the ice, will become extinct in the White Sea in the near future."

An exhibit of art was displayed under the ice of the White Sea in the Karelia region in Northwest Russia last month.

Visitors were required to don a diving suit and swim under the ice to see it.

The exhibition’s unusual circumstances aimed to make a statement on climate change.

“It is well known that the climate is changing, despite the fact that it is -30 Celsius today,” said photographer Viktor Lyaguskin.

“The White Sea is the southernmost of all Arctic seas.* It changes very fast. It may happen that creatures, whose life is frozen under the ice, will become extinct in the White Sea in the near future. That is why we are taking pictures of them and exposing them underwater, to let them survive at least through the photographs, before they become extinct.”

*Editor’s note: While definitions vary, Canada’s Hudson Bay, which is often considered a sea of the Arctic Ocean, extends further south than the White Sea.