The three projects presented are rooted in mining landscapes in the UK and in Australia: Blood from Stone – Impressions of Life (2018), Fineshade Wood, Northampton, Elephant In The Room (2020) which formed part of the group exhibition The Howse Shal Be Preserved at Rockingham Castle and Beings Without a World (2022) part of Desert Equinox II, an off-site/off-grid group exhibition in Broken Hill, Australia. All three projects relate to historic sites of iron ore extraction with significant environmental impacts, including habitat and species loss.

My creative response to these varied but related contexts was to develop an original methodology called klecksographic assemblage which involved using oak gall ink produced from local ingredients including post-industrial waste and naturally occurring materials ethically harvested. The resulting work exists as a series of apophenic images on paper, forming a ‘gentle monument’ to provide space for acknowledging past, present and future loss. This grief work explores the possibility of developing a novel lexicon which speaks of care and responds to different subjectivities.

These projects are informed by the writing of Jane Bennet on New Materialism, as well as Caitlin De Silveys work on Anticipatory History. They are also rooted in the varied practices of Justinus Kerner (1786-1862) poet, physician and medical writer.