Photo Credit: Zaria Forman

Zaris Forman creates large scale pastel drawings as a stunningly realistic visual record of the earth’s shifting landscape, and the effects of climate change.

For years, the artist has been traveling to some of the world’s most environmentally endangered areas, drawing inspiration from her travels to create these spectacular works of art that include especially awe-inspiring views, including the melting of Arctic icebergs and rising sea levels slowly submerging flat lands like the Maldives.

Rather than focusing exclusively on the depleting state of the planet, she documents the world as it is today, in an effort to spark a movement towards more eco-friendly practices. Forman explained, “I’m trying to turn scientists’ warnings and statistics into a more accessible medium, and hopefully it inspires people to make an impact in their own lives, no matter how big or small that may be— whether they turn the air conditioning down or make sure the water is not left running.”

To date, she’s traveled to places like Greenland, Svalbard and the Maldives, recreating their separate yet equally powerful images across vast canvases and using a portion of proceeds from the sales of her art to support 350.org, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and promoting ecologically safe action regarding climate change.

The artist spent September 2013 in the Maldives, the lowest and flattest country in the world, collecting material and inspiration to create a body of work celebrating and representing a nation that could be entirely underwater within this century, as she writes on her Facebook page.

Forman told My Modern Met in an email that her next adventure will take place in November/December, when she heads to South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula for a five week art residency aboard the National Geographic Explorer.