Surrounded by craggy cliffs at Pobbles bay it’s easy to become absorbed in the visual appeal of such a place. But I’m also excited by what I can’t see; the phenomenal wealth of information locked away inside the rocks. Ever present yet hidden, the material within speaks of so much. The world’s geological record is an actual account of earth’s evolution and provides an extensive library there for the reading. It yields a huge knowledge base of physical and chemical happenings which can be examined, assessed, counted and calculated. Its reading and analysis involves disciplines across the scientific spectrum and, with the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge and research, unlocking our past is now helping us with predicting the future. I find this utterly amazing! It is incredible that today, by joining forces and collaborating, climate scientists like Jo from all over the world can piece together intricate pictures of what happened previously, when, where, why and by how much. By utilising our increasing technological capabilities and continuing to access our geological record we are expanding exponentially and in ground breaking ways, our understanding of what was and of what might be. The more we uncover the more we seek to uncover; the more we learn, the more we can learn. It’s a truly fascinating, self-perpetuating circle of enlightenment that is of tremendous value to us all - even if some of us don’t know it.
This provides me with huge scope for my creative explorations of the relationship between absence and presence. It enables me to examine and to challenge, in a multitude of ways, their perceived hierarchical ranking. Much to do with Jo’s work goes unseen by the naked eye yet is of prodigious significance and has global relevance. As a geochemist with British Antarctic Survey she works at the forefront of international climate science, making an invaluable contribution to the research around potential sea level rise. Jo looks for, retrieves, analyses, assimilates, translates and presents information found in her geological specimens. Sometimes these are samples from rock which is itself hidden, like those from the bedrock concealed beneath vast West Antarctic ice sheets. Jo’s work is a true example of the immense importance of ‘the invisible in the visual’ (J F Lyotard).
Like pages in a book, these layers of sedimentary rock at Pobbles tell incredible stories. Of dynamic creation and evolutionary change, chemistry, biology, physics and geography, the evidence is there, preserved in stone.