canadian graphic designer nicole dextras embraces the cold climate of her native country through her ‘ice typography’ installations – a series of larger than life words spelled out in block letters made from ice. the three-dimensional texts are fabricated using moulds
dextras pours water into (sometimes colored for a more dramatic effect), allowing it to freeze and assembling the letters in a means that speaks to how a viewer’s gaze frames and informs the landscape in which the frozen statements are placed.

varying in size from as low as 18 inches in height to a whopping 8 feet tall, regardless of where the texts are installed -whether it is in canada’s northern province of yukon, or the metropolitan city of toronto – it is always the temperature which determines the life of the works, and how long it will take for nature to takes its course and change their state of solid to liquid. as dextras states, ‘this phase of transition becomes symbolic of the interconnectedness of language and culture to the land
as they are affected by time and by a constant shifting and transforming nature.’

the visual poetry which the designer’s ice typography creates, aims to subvert the authority of the english language and the commerce of signage, selecting words which represent a sense of vulnerability and transition. ‘words cast in ice interrupt our literal narratives, allowing a more integrated reading of the land we inhabit, as opposed to the past and current commodification of land as limitless resource. this fundamental split in perception lies at the crux of our environmental crisis. I therefore choose to create within an ephemeral vernacular to accentuate the collective physical and psychological experience of flux and change,‘ dextras says.