Time. Some of us like to wear it on our wrists. We like to monitor time or, rather, its passage. Often, we have things to do within a certain timeframe. Time goes by. And with time some cultures, languages, art, glaciers, lives are lost…

According to the Natural Laboratory to Study Climate Change, “Glaciers form when more snow accumulates over the year than melts during the summer. As layers of snow accumulate, the buried snow grains become more and more tightly packed and are converted to firn which subsequently metamorphoses to glacial ice as the firn recrystallizes. This process takes place in the accumulation zone at the higher altitudes. (…) The line that separates the accumulation and ablation zones is called the Equilibrium Line. The elevation of the equilibrium line depends on temperature, precipitation and the surrounding landscape. If the climate conditions remained constant, neither the equilibrium line nor the glacier margin would change.”

Climate and Weather in Iceland:

“Weather is ever-changing but can be forecast a few days into the future, whereas climate is the prevailing weather condition of a region and changes more slowly. The weather must be measured for several decades to monitor changes in the climate.” (Vatnajökull National Park and the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources in Iceland).

According to Cambridge University Press, "Glacier equilibrium lines are very important because they represent the lowest boundary of the climatic glacierization. The climates which prevail at glacier equilibrium lines are considered to be just sufficient to maintain the existence of glaciers.”

According to Cambridge Dictionary, the word equilibrium can also describe a state of balance between opposing forces, as well as a state of mental calm. The examples I found were thought provoking:

"But that happy place of equilibrium seems to be fading as well." - From Slate Magazine

"We may be shocked, even wounded by a loss, but we still manage to regain our equilibrium and move on." - From The Atlantic

"We can reduce the negative prejudices by once again rekindling the equilibrium between humans." - From Huffington Post

"To find equilibrium between poetry and violence is the challenge of any production." - From The New York Review of Books

"It was almost as if the removal of a dictator allowed society to return to a more natural equilibrium." - From The Atlantic

Visuals (Painting, Photography, Video): Wioleta Kaminska

Music: Agnieszka Kowalik

Video and Sound editing: Wioleta Kaminska