Rare Earth

UV Prints on Industrial Sheet Metal/Archival Pigment Prints on Metallic Hahnenmüle Paper, 2020-Present

“Rare Earth" and Supernatural are complementary series that are often exhibited together. I seek out hostile, otherworldly environments to create my work—landscapes that have been excavated, depleted, and polluted by extraction industries. These works result from extensive research, planning, and travel, as accessing many of these locations is not easy. The ongoing photographic series captures landscapes radically altered by mining and other extraction processes using both analogue 120mm film and a mirrorless camera.

This series focuses on the unique textures and colours of the land and water I encounter at these sites. Concentrations of minerals and acidity resulting from mining and quarrying in these areas give rise to these distinctive visuals and unusual chemical elements in these places. Some of the images start to move towards abstraction. In these surreal works, I envision archaeological discoveries by future cultures and the potential narratives woven by their exploration of these eras and locations.

In these works, I envision archaeological discoveries by future cultures and the potential narratives woven by their exploration of these eras and locations. I question: 'What will future cultures think of the scarred earth we leave behind?' Another essential aspect is to reframe the landscape and the notion of the sublime from a female perspective. 'Rare Earth,' is a visual archive of humankind’s insatiable appetite for consumption, which poses the question: how can we sustain it?

Despite the adverse effects of industrialisation and consumption, I remain captivated by the aesthetics of the Anthropocene. From 19th-century Romanticist landscape painting to the recent legacy of aerial photographers documenting human-altered landscapes, the landscape has been presented through a male lens. It is my intention to document these places where women have historically been forbidden from the ground level and reframe the landscape and the notion of the sublime from a female perspective. My goal is to craft images that illuminate the contradictory conditions shaping our reality. The years I have spent so far on this project have given me insight into my family history of immigrant miners.  I still have questions about the future.