Chloe Dewe Matthews Gallery / Sara Urbaez / May 21, 2018 9:41 AM
Chloe Dewe Mathews01Mary Shelley began writing *Frankenstein* while staying at a village on Lake Geneva in 1816. Some 200 years later, Chloe Dewe Mathews returned to the alpine landscape that provided the backdrop to Shelley's story.
Chloe Dewe Mathews02Mathews photographed the wintery landscape of the Alps, which has been affected by climate change, as well as Swiss underground nuclear bunkers.
Chloe Dewe Mathews03This tunnel is part of the Mauvoisin Dam beneath the Gietroz Glacier. It was built to protect against glacial flooding.
Chloe Dewe Mathews04In 1815, Mount Tamboro in Indonesia erupted, causing a global decrease in temperatures. This led to the Year Without Summer in 1816 and the dismal conditions that led Mary Shelley to write *Frankenstein.* Because of the cold, the Gietroz Glacier built up so much ice that it flooded the Bagnes Valley below. More than a century later, authorities constructed a dam to protect against such flooding, creating Mauvoisin Lake (depicted).
Chloe Dewe Mathews05Bunk beds fill a room in a nuclear bunker in Switzerland. The country has more than 300,000 underground fallout shelters.
Chloe Dewe Mathews06While visiting the nuclear bunkers in Switzerland, Dewe Mathews noticed many were painted pastel colors. "It was this strange sugary sweet color scheme," she says, "delightful and disgusting at the same time."
Chloe Dewe Mathews07The bunkers can withstand the blast of a 12-megaton explosion just half a mile away.
Chloe Dewe Mathews08A kitchen inside a nuclear bunker in Switzerland.
Chloe Dewe Mathews09The bunkers were built after the government passed laws in the 1960s and ‘70s requiring building owners and municipalities to construct shelters.
Chloe Dewe Mathews10Dewe's photographs of the bunkers contrast with her delicate, exterior scenes, emphasizing the fragility of the landscape.
Chloe Dewe Mathews11Mer de Glace sits on the northern slopes of Mont Blanc. It's the site of an important scene in *Frankenstein* and has receded by a mile since Mary Shelley wrote the book.
