Blood from Stone: Evidence of Change

WRITTEN IN BONE

Blood from Stone Part One

Written in Bone is a conceptual project focussed on the representation of landscapes that have been significantly altered by mankind through the practices involved in the reaping of resources. The communication goal of this project was that landscapes require the same degree of moral care and concern as sentient beings for whom justice seems reserved.

In order for this focus to find expression, a form of pseudo-forensic anthropology, a specialized field combining osteology, anthropology and archaeology in the interest of identifying human remains that are no longer recognizable, was applied to these altered landscapes in an attempt to explore the seemingly contradictory yet symbiotic relationship between identity, as sameness and change over time and composition, as a form of fragility and initiate a change in attitudes towards land management as environmental protection.

For the purpose of this project, Salvamento Quarry was identified as victim. Salvamento Quarry is an abandoned granite quarry that was closed down to a combination of low-quality granite and improper mining practices.

EVIDENCE OF CHANGE

Evidence of Change consists of two ink pen sketches on tiepolo (175 mm x 720 mm each) and a set of fourteen engraved Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene evidence markers.

Evidence markers are used in the processing of the crime scene to identify items and states that are suspected to be involved in or affected by activities leading to the state of the recovered remains. Each item marked and photographed by an evidence marker holds the potential to serve as a piece of the puzzle that is the story behind the remains.

Combined, the two sketches depict the three main states that the landscape could be found in at various stages in Salvamento Quarry's tale of change. After the Vredefort meteorite impact event, which played a significant role in the formation of the granite, a Savanna-Grassland biome established itself. The area was turned into a quarry while the granite was being actively mined and now, the harvested blocks of granite that could not be exported due to quality issues and lack of uniformity of size, lie abandoned amongst the grass that has once again taken root after human activity in the area ceased.