Sergio Frutos | Vallibierna

Vallibierna

In the series Vallibierna I worked manly from dia-films from my father, shot in the 1970’s in the Pyrenees, and depict the valleys back then empty and wild and now menaced by tourists and global warming.

This project revolves around how the human action has changed the world in an unstoppable tide, centered on the effects on mountain ranges¹ and developed as a dialog between generations, taking the photographs that my father took in the 70s to talk about the present day. The romantic concept of victorian explorer has decayed as these unknown regions, the wild, have disappeared². There are no more ‘Hic sunt Draconis’ left and these glaciers don’t exist anymore³.

More than just a signal, this process embodies to me the expression of how unconsciously we are immerse in the irrefrenable change of the planet's face. About the glaciers in the Patagonia, a journalist⁴ recently wrote: “The hordes of visitors who celebrate every time a huge chunk of the imposing Perito Moreno glacier breaks off, ignore the danger for the inhabitants of El Chalten that the imposing ice mass is retreating at full speed due to the impact of climate change.” More recently, a huge portion of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has broken off from the mountainside, sending rock, mud and ice crashing onto the village of Blatten⁵. There are no reports of casualties, although the village of Blatten is now largely buried under rubble. “Nature is stronger than man. The mountain people know that. But today we experienced an extraordinary event. The event has left us speechless, and it’s shocking to see the images,” said Federal Councillor Albert Rösti.

I. Vidaller et al., “Toward an Ice-Free Mountain Range: Demise of Pyrenean Glaciers During 2011–2020,” Geophysical Research Letters 48, no. 18 (2021). →
Ellis, Erle C, and Navin Ramankutty. “Putting People in the Map: Anthropogenic Biomes of the World,” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6, no. 8 (October 2008): 439–47.
Izagirre et al. “Pyrenean glaciers are disappearing fast: state of the glaciers after the extreme mass losses in 2022 and 2023,” Reg Environ Change 24, 172 (2024).
Jorgelina Hiba, “El Riesgo de Vivir a Los Pies de Un Glaciar Que Desaparece,” Eldiario.es, May 2025. →
Madeleine Cuff, “Massive Glacier Collapse Triggers Landslide That Buries Swiss Village,” New Scientist, May 2025. →