FORAGED PIGMENT - AADK RESIDENCY
FEB 2022, artist residency with AADK in Blanca, Spain
WHAT IS BELONGING?
To me, it means being part of something larger—connected, rooted, contributing to a greater whole.
During my time in residency near Blanca, I explored this idea of belonging through the land itself. I foraged rocks from the surrounding area, carefully collecting and breaking them down—returning them, in a way, to their elemental state. These stones, once solid and singular, became part of something broader: pigment. Earth. A portrait of place.
Over the course of a month, I walked the land daily, selecting stones with intention. Back in the studio, I used simple tools—hammer and cloth—to gently crush the rocks over hours of rhythmic tapping. Dust formed. That dust was then refined with water, and mixed with egg yolk—a binder used for centuries in traditional tempera painting.
From this slow, physical process emerged a palette entirely born of the land. The final work is a portrait not just of what the land looks like, but what it is—its texture, its minerals, its history buried in oxides and revealed again through touch.
This work is both an act of reverence and a search for connection. It asks: how do we belong to the earth—and how does the earth belong to us?
