The deeper the pink, the more people take photos of Nature in the region around Interlaken and the Jungfraujoch. | Image: Nathan Külling

It looks like a rather soulless lady in pink who’s squinting suspiciously while her lips are pressed into a skewed kiss. Is this perhaps the next selfie trend? Sceptical, sexy and aloof? Nope! Our imagination has been running away with us, for this picture actually shows 2,500 square kilometres of the region around Interlaken. The squinting ‘eyes’ are Lakes Thun and Brienz, and the kissing mouth is an area on the Jungfraujoch that’s overrun by more than half a million visitors wanting the best view of the Aletsch Glacier. Nathan Külling is a doctoral student in environmental sciences at the University of Geneva, and he created this photograph as part of his research before submitting it to ‘[Figure 1.A.]’, the annual Scientific Art Exhibition held in Lausanne.

Külling is interested in the suitability of landscapes as a place of recreation. His work shows where people take photos of the natural world, and uses a deeper pink depending on how heavily such places are used. For his modelling, he used geolocalised data from the photo platforms Flickr and I-Naturalist, and also drew on the help of an AI. “It’s an experimental approach”, he says. “You can see that the main driver for taking photos is not just how pretty the landscape is (such as mountain peaks), but the proximity to roads, means of transport, towns and villages”.

He chose bright pink because photos made with microscopes in which pink is dominant often win prizes at [Figure 1.A.]. Külling wanted to generate a moment of confusion and a subsequent ‘aha effect’. But besides this gimmick, he also has a mission: “This image is a call to take better care of the environment. According to current estimates, the Aletsch Glacier will have disappeared by the year 2100”. There is also a hidden paradox here: “Many people come to Switzerland by plane, car or train. They travel a long way and emit a lot of CO₂, just to be able to admire the beauties of Nature”. No wonder the pink lady has such a suspicious look about her.