Sites of Power is a series of clay tablets printed with elevations of buildings that house key points of decision making for underground development in Queensland, and a flat surface line. The buildings and surface line are positioned high on the tablets communicating the idea that these above-ground locations, while often geographically disconnected from the sites they decide the fate of, are physical locations that have their own connection to the earth.

 

The portrait layout of the tablets allows a much greater area for the 'ground' than standard architectural elevations that focus predominantly on the surface structure. The marbled clay of the tablet becomes representative of the materiality of the earth below the ground line, positioning it as the most significant part of the image and giving it a presence that challenges the dominance of the building within the overall composition. 

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In bringing this focus to the materiality of the underground, the tablets ask whether the people who make decisions for the underground consider the immediate material reality of their own workplace. They further imply the question of whether these same decision makers extend that courtesy of acknowledging materiality to the distant sites they preside over. 

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To read more about the thinking behind Sites of Power, click here for the catalogue written by Marilu Melo Zuriate for my 2021 solo exhibition Whoever's is the Soil, at STABLE artspace.