Contaminated Landscapes I, II, III (2024) Copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, copper, bacterial, iron rich soil, heather, moss bones, bronze pigment, acrylic paint; Framed in closed acrylic display boxes , 31 x 22 x 10 cm

Contaminated Landscapes - Sculpture I (2024), Carr stones, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, copper, bacterial iron rich soil, bronze pigment, acrylic paint
15 x 9 x 6 cm

Contaminated Landscapes - Sculpture II (2024), Carr stones, copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, copper, bacterial iron rich soil, bronze pigment, acrylic paint
19 x 16 x 12 cm

Contaminated Landscapes

Exploring leftovers and waste materials I like to challenge the notion of value within a certain material. On a recent residency programme in Kings Lynn, UK, I focused on creating what comes from and under the ground. I decided to use my own produced waste materials, particularly copper sulphate and dried sulphuric acid – byproducts from the technical processes of electroforming, which I employ in my practice.

Creating a series of sculptures and sculptural paintings with thin copper anodes as leftovers, together with copper, copper sulphate crystals and dried sulphuric acid, soil from a bacterial iron rich swamp and Carr Stones, found in Norfolk, the outcome resulted in dystopian landscapes, where minerals, mined copper and nature are merged, giving us a poetic, yet dark glimpse of the downsides of mining copper and its devasting environmental consequences.

Images by Katrin Spranger