Site (re)Earthed
Photos by: Danielle Petti and Dickson Bou
As carbon-based life forms, we share a vital element. As materially engaged artists, we’re drawn to carbon as a connector.
Most carbon black pigment is produced from petroleum products. I was initially drawn to biochar as a more sustainable pigment, but it quickly became a teacher: as a soil additive, a material for building, and a method of carbon sequestration.
Thanks to ICFAR, I was able to learn about the wide-ranging possibilities of biochar.
My usual process for art making involves breaking down rock to make colour, but this project pushed me in the opposite direction; taking already broken-down biochar and gravel, and building up through compression. That’s how Site (Re)Earthed came about - an outdoor rammed earth installation that brings together sustainable building practices and material-based research. Biochar from wood and wastewater are embedded within the six rammed earth columns, representing the six protons, neutrons, and electrons of a carbon atom.
My interest in the intersection of art and science led me to work with Kirsty Robertson as a supervisor on the project, and to select Imogen Clendinning as curator—both of whom share an investment in the poetics of science and the ways art facilitates knowledge.
Carbon Flurry brings together Site (Re)Earthed, Imogen’s curatorial vision, and the material investigations with biochar by Racquel Rowe, Behnaz Fatemi, and Emelie Robertson in a cyclical reverberation.
Big thanks to:
Western Sustainable Impact Fund, Aerecura Sustainable Builders, ICFAR, Caroline Rosenberg, and all the folks at Environmental Sciences Western Field Station, the Centre for Sustainable Curating, Bella Biochar, Kirsty Robertson, Christina Battle, Imogen Clendinning, Liza Eurich, Dickson Bou, Alena Robin, Tricia Johnson, Meghan Edmiston, Laura Mantz, Syll Jamieson, Steve DeBruyn, Rob, Tia, Jess, Seb, Cassie, and Moira.