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archaeology i
archaeology i
archaeology ii
archaeology ii
archaeology iii
archaeology iii
archaeology iv
archaeology iv
archaeology v
archaeology v
archaeology vi
archaeology vi

In the archaeology series, I was thinking about how we create images of past worlds from a few pieces, of belongings, of artifacts dug up out of the earth. The archaeology here, though, is of the creative intellect: the "dig" takes place there...

Interpretation is a particular kind of narrative we spin, in trying to elaborate an idea, a context, a culture, from a fragment, often small and stumbled-upon. We can draw a story out of the smallest impression. We shape our worlds that way.

In the archaeology series, I was thinking about how we create images of past worlds from a few pieces, of belongings, of artifacts dug up out of the earth. The archaeology here, though, is of the creative intellect: the "dig" takes place there; clues to the world under construction are found in the interplay between the intellect and the medium. Physical process mirrors thought: the act of breaking the surface, digging down, uncovering, examining, assembling the elements of image. Each plate began with random markings eaten into the copper surface. I laid the grounds unevenly, I brushed acid directly onto the plate, I used soft grounds and impressed found objects into them. On some of the plates I scratched in patterns I had lifted from cracked and eroded stones. The actions in each phase of working on each plate were determined by the "proof" of the preceding phase; I worked to elaborate the first accidental findings.

All this is to suggest that we each shape our worlds by accumulation, that the worlds we create are made of interpretations of what comes up once the surface has been broken through.

   

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For more information about my work, or for information on pricing or commissions, please contact: info@martinuik.ca. © Lorraine Martinuik, 2004.