another project space

The 40 hectare former Cresco/CSPB/ Wesfarmers industrial site, located a few hundred metres from the Another building, is contaminated mainly from agricultural chemical manufacture and storage and listed on the register under Contaminated Sites Act (2003). The site underwent remediation to allow restricted industrial and commercial use with sections of the remediated site containing levels of contamination that preclude allowing any water to percolate through the soil, to avoid the water picking up contaminants and carrying them into the water table. During my residency, I collected soils, waste, plant materials and fragments from the boundaries of this site to create a series of small sculptures that act as portable landscapes. By using site specific soils to make cement, the physicality of a place is captured, along with all the toxins, fragments and organic matter that soil contains. Trucked-in soil used as fill to remediate the site and the use of disposable food, drink and water containers as moulds, introduce a sense of dislocation and raises questions around permanence of place. The sculptures both embody the site yet disrupt identification with place, and, along with the materials failures, reveal an implicit and unsettling instability.

Natura Morte: -31.895612, 115.994345 | 2017 | site specific soil, concrete, aluminium powder, copper, lead | dimensions variable