The journey, spins, spirals and ascends but clarity is denied.  Descent and introspection ensue. There is no long view, just a reflection on the (often invisible) materials we use, then discard, to grease a comfortable path through life, and the persistence of nature in the face of destructive human activity.

^^^^^ Rudera – of the rubble includes sculpture, ceramics, drawing, lithographic prints and is centred around a film made during 2025/26. Filming took place at ‘The Bings’ (from the Old Norse word” bingr” meaning heap) in West and Mid Lothian, Scotland. These man-made mountains of shale are by-products of the industrial process of oil production, re-visioned as an artwork in 1975 by John Latham, now a scheduled monument and nature reserve.

Ceramic work was developed through a REACH Scotland Residency at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) in 2026 using a combination of Lothian shale, Cornish granite and Coker wood ash. Additional firings took place at Brickfields (St Austell, Cornwall), Oxford Kilns (Oxford), Leith Pottery (Edinburgh) and OSR Projects (Somerset).

Drawings and plaster casts were made in the artist’s studio in Somerset, with lithographs drawn whilst at ESW and printed by Artlab Contemporary Print (Preston).

Publication design Chantelle Henocq.

First exhibited at Auction House & Back Lane West, Redruth, Cornwall, UK – 4-25 July 2026.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this project:

Liberty Smith, Neil Rose, Simone Einfelt, Emma Aitken, Jess Fernie, Laura Simpson, Chantelle Henocq, Susie Clark, Andy Parker, Chantal Powell, Rosanna Martin, Liam Jolly, Patrick Lowery, Tracy Hill, Kathryn Poole, Sorcha Carey, Uist Corrigan, Stephen Murray, Rob Evans, Karlyn Evans, Stuart Blackmore, Alice Mahoney and Seana Callis-Burr.

And thanks to the writers and artist who unwittingly helped to shape this work; Cal Flyn, Daisy Hildyard, Dante Alighieri, TS Eliot, Herman Melville, John Latham, Barbara Stevini, John Smith and Charles Ray.

Exhibition Publication_ Photo Oliver Udy