Exploring physical chemistry through paint: using colour and movement to envisage reactionary processes which take place at an atomic level. They form key components central to Jo’s analytical work.
Evidence still exists of reactions that occurred hundreds, often thousands of years ago within the Antarctic rock sought for analysis by Jo. I find that astonishing.
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.
Time is an intriguing concept to work with, creatively speaking, although it is a vast and complex area to explore. It poses challenging questions and is difficult to articulate but I remind myself that the only limiting factor in its expression is me…..
‘Moments in Time’ is a geological and experiential record of Three Cliffs Bay.
in contact with the glaciomarine sediment
touched by Patella beach of the Eemian
carrying imprints
dried traces of a past I didn’t know
immersed in the same sea it knew
layered with ancient sand in the present
‘Moments in Time’, a past embodied. Sand, sea and glaciomarine sediment, paper.
Time - evolutionary, geological, anthropogenic. Vast, yet often imperceptible, it can pass in a flash or seem to go on forever.
Our perception of time varies hugely depending on our state of mind and circumstance. Consequently, during these unprecedented, challenging days of lockdown, it is polarising. To some, such a situation is intolerable, yet to others it engenders a freedom rarely experienced.
Read MoreWandering the coastline of Gower I’m drawn to the unassuming, sometimes grubby looking, white stuff welded amongst the limestone rock - because it is a mineral with a secret.
Read MoreCreating a silicone mould for casting small sections of patella beach. This enables me to produce numerous pieces for use in a multitude of ways without destroying the real thing and intentionally shifts its emphasis from natural element to that of man-made.
Drawing at Rhossili, sitting above a 125,000 year old limpet shell….
Embedded within a remnant of the ‘Patella’ beach to which it lends its name, the shell is held fast by ‘natural cement’ (precipitated limestone / calcium carbonate). This raised beach fragment is a relic from earth’s last warm period (interglacial) when the sea level was much higher than today - but temperatures were almost the same. A probable indicator of what is to come, perhaps in the next few hundred years, should global CO2 levels not fall below current levels.
Stormy seas and turbulent winds frequently strip sand from around Gower’s coast. Winter storms exacerbate a constant cycle of wearing away and putting back, allowing buried rock to be unmasked for a short while before being engulfed by sand once more.
Barnacle-free and pale in colour this ‘clean’ rock stands out from that which sits above it. Such exposure provides much to explore and a brief opportunity to connect momentarily with unusual and intriguing finds….
These fossil shells embedded in the limestone at Pobbles bay, probably coloured by iron, look remarkably like cave paintings.
To look under our feet is to glimpse past and future, entwined in stories of creation and time, readable in the present. Uncovering this richly woven tapestry of dynamic tales concealed behind its recognisable facade, provides intriguing insight into the static scenery we think we know.
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