Conduit
ongoing
The written history of the earth rarely includes the history of the underground - though our reliance upon underground resource extraction is irretrievably intertwined with our existence aboveground. And too, our stories tell us of the archaic reverence we hold for the mythic subterranean realm. Conduit is an ongoing photographic investigation of abandoned mineral mining sites, interrogating the environmental aftermath of mining industries and the cultural residue that centuries of post-industrial revolution extractive practices have left on us. This project engages with the consequences of mining in the capitolocene through documentation of artifacts of human intervention found underground, the ecology of these sites aboveground, and artistic explorations into mythic understandings of the void throughout history.
The photographic works in this series, comprised of a combination of pigment prints on yellow washi, silver gelatin prints made with expired paper, wood, and encaustic, extend beyond the traditional frame. This work re-engages with material in a world that is often (incorrectly) thought to be already dematerialized. I’m trying to figure out how we make, and then abandon, voids. These are forgotten and vulnerable places, often left stripped and abandoned after we have finished extracting the fossil fuels and minerals that we use in order to construct our built environment aboveground.
At sites of extraction it becomes clear that the most prevalent force is the tension between the positive physical material that we remove from the earth and the negative void that is left behind. Under the conditions of exponential growth dictated by end-stage capitalism, more and more finite resources are extracted to facilitate unsustainable consumption. I hope that an artistic interrogation into these negative zones allows us to reflect on the literal marks we leave in the earth, and the potential for introducing more sustainable practices aboveground.
The work shown in this portfolio was created at sites across Ireland, including at Avoca Mines, Ballinafunshogue Mines, Glengowla Mines, and Allihies Cave. Conduit is currently in its second phase, taking place in Cobalt, Canada with the guidance of SPAO Ottawa.
