Ashes of the Cold August 2025 — Ice, sand Petrified Forest National Park, Egypt
In Sakha mythology, the Bull of Cold breathes winter into the world. Now, its melting horns become a quiet metaphor for a warming planet.
The installation was created from seven tons of crushed ice, brought into the Egyptian desert. As the sculpture slowly melted, it left only water and memory - a meditation on disappearance, balance, and the fragile coexistence of human and nature.
In Ashes of the Cold, an ancient Sakha legend becomes a reflection on climate and memory.
The installation, created from seven tons of crushed ice in the Egyptian desert, reimagines the myth of the Bull of Cold, a spirit whose melting horns mark the retreat of winter. As the ice slowly dissolved, it left behind only water traces on the sand. It is a quiet reminder of transformation and impermanence, and fragile coexistence between human and nature.
The timelapse captures the melting of a seven-ton ice sculpture over nearly 60 hours. What feels like several days to a human becomes a fleeting moment for the sculpture - a stark reminder that the cold we once considered eternal can vanish almost instantly under the pressure of heat.
The timelapse condenses this vanishing into a few seconds, mirroring how climate change compresses long cycles of nature into abrupt shifts. What we assume will last, melts before our eyes.
Ashes of Cold Timelapse
Timelapse of a seven-ton ice sculpture melting in the desert over nearly 60 hours.
Note: The time-lapse sequence was filmed at a separate location outside Petrified Forest National Park, as the ice installation could not remain there for an extended period. After the documentation, the ice was transported and used to water local plants. The second day of filming took place at a nearby horse farm.
