Are there still climate deniers in this world? Astonishingly, even today, some leaders of a large country just north of Mexico toy with outdated notions of climate denial. Yet artists like Diana Lelonek show us a different reality, one where the transformation of our landscapes is undeniable.

In the second reconnecting.earth biennale in Geneva, Lelonek invited viewers to see Lake Geneva as never before. Through a striking triptych of large-scale photographs, she portrayed the lake entirely drained of water, a vision inspired by her earlier work recording the melting of glaciers for the Tinguely Museum with sound artist Denim Szram. This sound installation, placed at the Bain des Pâquis, used the very waters from those glaciers’ melt to immerse audiences in the soundscape of climate change.

Lelonek continued her exploration in Kiel, showing landscapes reimagined after Antarctic ice melt.

Now, for the Sea Art Festival in Busan, she has created an installation in the form of a shower cabin that reflects a 360-degree panorama of Busan heated by six degrees. Inside and out, viewers encounter both visual and data-driven reflections of a climate-altered future.

In conclusion, will Diana Lelonek’s immersive landscapes convince every last climate denier? Perhaps not. But what her art does so powerfully is offer us a different way to grasp what’s happening around us—recreating narratives that foster a stronger, more visceral reaction. In these photographs, we often don’t know where reality ends and fiction begins; there’s a good dose of mystery that leaves many questions open. Different viewers will grasp it in their own ways, and this form of art invites us all to reflect more deeply on our warming world. Even if the impact isn’t direct on entrenched discourses, it helps transform our societal awareness and apply pressure for others to see the urgency.