Materialising Satellite Data
Earth observing technologies continuously image the natural landscape, creating a database of aerial imagery rendered to make visible digital representations of the planetary surface from above. Location applications reveal expansive aerial footage from across the globe, unearthing distant terrain, where open pit mines, extraction machinery, and systematically built structures, exploit resources. Experiencing the mining landscape from the satellite perspective lies at the heart of my practice as I investigate how the top-down viewpoint inextricably links to land management and notions of control.
Through digital manipulation and a multidisciplinary approach to printmaking, I use screenshots of various mining sites captured on Google Earth and transition them from the screen into material form. My practice engages the imagery with technical processes to open a dialogue to explore layering, imprint, and reproduction in both print and land use.
Fragmented Matter, plaster sculptures of copperplate, approximately 10 x 8 x 2 cm, November 2021
Through embossing and casting processes, I transitioned imagery of an open pit mine into tactile materials. The digitally flat imagery was used as a template to determine the embossed areas of the print. Using stop out varnish, I painted the structures of the mine to become imprinted on the paper, leaving the exposed areas of the copperplate to degrade once submerged in Nitric acid. The plate remained etching for six hours, creating a large indent in the copper surface and thus mirroring soil erosion accelerated by the mining industry. After running the plate through an intaglio press, a reverse image of the plate can be seen and felt on the now embossed paper, subtly revealing the depths of the scarred landscape presented from an aerial viewpoint.
The heavily etched copperplate incited further experimentation, which led to the creation of ‘Fragmented Matter’. Clay walls assembled on top of the plate acted as a temporary mould for the plaster to be poured into. An unexpected reaction between the plaster and copperplate manifested when removing the set sculptures; a spectacular copper residue sat atop the plaster objects, highlighting the fine details of the textured etching plate. These fragments appear to belong to a fallen structure. They are tethered to ruins, suggesting a connection to another place. Instead, they are new creations, built from synthetic, processed materials in a contemporary working space. The narrative they assume however is not wholly fictional, the copper residue ties these sculptures to a landscape, where the natural resource originated prior to extraction. By representing the artwork as an artefact, material interactions through the eyes of the satellite perspective enable engagement with a mined terrain.
Temporal Aerial Vision, screen print on Omnia White paper, 51 x 72 cm, 2021
25 x 25 cm, vacuum form, 2022
Material experiment using vacuum forming onto scrap sheet plastic around my plaster and clay sculptures.