Nothing makes itself

‘Nothing makes itself’, is a new series of large scale paintings of pebbles found on the beaches of Cornwall. Due to the accidental arrangement of mineral deposits, the pebbles have eroded over millennia to resemble a face. I like to think of these pebbles with faces in three ways: as emblems of contemporary, western individuality; as charms aimed at a re-enchantment with the world; and as witnesses to earth’s geological and environmental history and destruction.

Resembling the simplified, cartoon expressions of emojis, at first the pebbles appear superficial and kitsch, mawkish and sentimental. And they are all of these things, yet there is something deeper and more complex going on as well. Formed by immense forces and processes beyond their understanding or control, they are not in possession of their identities or fates. Suspended in an idealised yet disorienting space, they are isolated and exposed, longing for recognition, for connection, crying out to be loved.

In this sense, I see the pebbles as emblems of contemporary, Western individuals: compelled to self-design, apparent masters of our identities and futures, yet despite and because of this, heavily burdened by our subjectivity. Here, the ‘unwelcome truths and unacknowledged dependencies’ of the title refer to the socio-economic forces and relations that have shaped us and that continue to dictate our destinies. In wealthy, privileged, neoliberal societies these forces are repressed—disavowed—only to resurface in other locations, such as migrants, ethnic minorities, and the economically dispossessed. 

But it is not just in the place of societies and individuals that this disavowal is operating. In his book “Disenchanted Earth” (from which my title is borrowed), James Bridle describes how the same mechanisms of denial and refusal help enable the continued destruction of the planet through unchecked global capitalism. Once our enchantment with ‘nature’ was lost during the enlightenment (and the subsequent rise of scientific and technological advancement), the planet became an object to be mastered and exploited. By disavowing our dependency on the planet for our very survival, we can go on sucking it dry. To be enchanted, on the other hand, is to be captivated, to be charmed, to be filled with delight. What if we were to rekindle that enchantment, to no longer view the planet as an object for our use, but to see it as a magical, mysterious thauma or marvel; a complex and unfathomable quintessence…?

Finally, I like to think of these pebbles as witnesses, as recorders, as chroniclers of earth’s deep history and time. What might they have seen had they eyes to behold? What might they tell us if they had mouths with which to speak? These little, insignificant pebbles have witnessed the earth’s geological formation and development, the emergence of life and its slow transformations and evolutions. And now they are forced passively to watch as humans rapidly undo all of that toil, that creativity, that abundance, in less than the blink of an eye…