Ok Glacier Memorial

The original version of this memorial is installed on top of Ok mountain in Iceland, near the site of the first glacier in the world to have been declared deceased. It is the first material commemoration of a glacier lost to climate change.

Glaciologist Oddur Sigurðsson marked the end of the approximately 700-year-old glacier in 2014, and the idea for a memorial came about during the making of a film about its life and death by the anthropologists Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer.

The bronze plaque’s design is inspired by traditional Icelandic memorials. The text challenges readers to be more accountable for the environment and conscious of climate change.

Designers: Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer.
Text: Andri Snær Magnason.
Story: Oddur Sigurðsson.
Manufacturer: Grétar Már Þorvaldsson.