BLURRING THE LINES
BLURRING THE LINES

Nesie Wang

Rocks, roots, unearth

EDITION

2024, Winner

school

KABK - Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands

school

nesiewang.com
@nesiewjy

At the Dexing Copper Mine in China, copper mining has marked landscape by infertility and toxicity. Despite these adverse conditions, mine workers have adopted part-time gardening on this very land, engaging in an almost paradoxical act of nurturing the soil that their primary occupation continues to degrade. Exploring the interconnectedness between the miners and the land through their dual roles in mining and gardening, I delve into the complex exchanges between what people extract from the land and what the land, in its altered state, gives back. By engaging with the miners who have woven gardening into their lives, I seek to uncover the personal narratives that weave through their daily experiences, reflecting on their bond with the transformed land beneath their feet. Using a mixed-media approach that combines photography, video documentation, and copper plate etching prints made from tailing sand collected from the mine, this project investigates the interactions between human and nonhuman forces that are central to this infertility. The film, In the Trace of Tilled Stones (20 min), offers a situated perspective that interweaves narratives of mining and gardening, showing how the miners interact with the landscape through both the extraction of ore and the cultivation of soil. As the miners share their reflections, the film captures the paradox of their dual roles, offering a grounded view for understanding generations tied to the mine by the industrialization of China. Complementing the film, the copper etching prints transform the toxic remnants of mining into the material process of printmaking. Through the craft process of etching, the landscape is reproduced: ink made from the mining residuals is reintroduced into the engraved body of the copper plate, which itself is an end product of the mining. This process translates the paradox of the miners' labor, on both the garden and the mine. The printed images are not only about the photos they depict, but also embody the materiality of the landscape of the mine.

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Nesie Wang

Rocks, roots, unearth

EDITION

2024, Winner

school

KABK - Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands

school

nesiewang.com
@nesiewjy

At the Dexing Copper Mine in China, copper mining has marked landscape by infertility and toxicity. Despite these adverse conditions, mine workers have adopted part-time gardening on this very land, engaging in an almost paradoxical act of nurturing the soil that their primary occupation continues to degrade. Exploring the interconnectedness between the miners and the land through their dual roles in mining and gardening, I delve into the complex exchanges between what people extract from the land and what the land, in its altered state, gives back. By engaging with the miners who have woven gardening into their lives, I seek to uncover the personal narratives that weave through their daily experiences, reflecting on their bond with the transformed land beneath their feet. Using a mixed-media approach that combines photography, video documentation, and copper plate etching prints made from tailing sand collected from the mine, this project investigates the interactions between human and nonhuman forces that are central to this infertility. The film, In the Trace of Tilled Stones (20 min), offers a situated perspective that interweaves narratives of mining and gardening, showing how the miners interact with the landscape through both the extraction of ore and the cultivation of soil. As the miners share their reflections, the film captures the paradox of their dual roles, offering a grounded view for understanding generations tied to the mine by the industrialization of China. Complementing the film, the copper etching prints transform the toxic remnants of mining into the material process of printmaking. Through the craft process of etching, the landscape is reproduced: ink made from the mining residuals is reintroduced into the engraved body of the copper plate, which itself is an end product of the mining. This process translates the paradox of the miners' labor, on both the garden and the mine. The printed images are not only about the photos they depict, but also embody the materiality of the landscape of the mine.

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