seventy five objects - photographic image transfer & pencil on painted MDF board 1520x520mm
These 75 found objects originate from a site in North Devon, UK. They have been transferred to board and are displayed in the order of discovery, each annotated with the OSGB grid reference of its location.
As found, the objects took the form of cast iron plates, set flush with the surface of the public roadways of Mortehoe. They are ostensibly "manhole covers", though from a phenomenological perspective, we can perceive their patterened and textured surfaces in many ways. When stripped of their original context, the function and identity of the objects becomes ambiguous. They are at once: ciphers of an arcane code; talismans empowered with secret properties; iconic symbols from the age of industrialization; visual representations of the entry points to a labyrinthine underworld; sonograms trapped in ambergris & awaiting "re-auralization"; and more...
Our human nature constantly attempts to connect our perceptions with the known. One of the many children who came along to the exhibition immediately pointed up and shouted "biscuits!" Another response came from a classic car enthusiast who saw them as "brake & clutch pedals from vintage cars".
I present these objects here in their raw state and would invite the viewer to make their own connections.
detail of single object & pencil annotation
background
While walking through the North Devon village of Mortehoe one sweltering day in June 2005, with my head bowed low & a heavy rucksack on my back, I became unusually aware of the number of manhole covers - access points to services - in the roadway beneath my feet. That walk back through the village was indeed defined by these objects laid in the surface of the earth, each with its own specific design in the cast, grey metal.
Perhaps it was the effects of the heat which brought to mind the hollow-earth theories of 17th century alchemist & scholar Athanasius Kircher. Kircher's text mundus subterraneus, based in part on his investigations of Mt Vesuvius, described an underground world mirroring our own and complete with fire, air, rock & rivers. With such extravagant imagery in my mind, no wonder I was imagining these objects to be coded entry points to this mysterious underworld!
At that point I decided that I should return one day and make a thorough survey and collection of these objects. It took a while to decide on an appropriate method - printmaking, casting or photography were the obvious options. Finally, on 9th March, 2007 the survey was completed, and the objects gathered photographically. But even that activity gave rise to an interesting observation by a member of the public who hapened to wander by. Because we looked as if we were undertaking work in some official capacity, wearing high visibility jackets or suchlike, we were immediately perceived as part of the local authority workforce, and offered comiserations for the mundane nature of the work at hand. We, of course, responded in kind, and our cover was maintained.