Stonesense: Toward Lithic Thinking

Abstract

In this practice-led doctoral thesis I develop a methodology of lithic thinking, using the mineral as both a material and discursive tool. A posthuman and new materialist theoretical framework supports an art practice of attending to lithic materials and their dynamic processes through a sculptural and installation practice. Stonesense works primarily with metals such as copper and iron, as well as iron slag and other mineral materials, to build space for reimagining inorganic relationality. To do so, I employ three techniques of relation with these materials: holding/releasing, floating/sinking, and layering/wearing away. In my art-making I consider the materiality of minerals, their physical properties and tendencies, and the unseen forces at work within them. To define lithic thinking, I build on the bedrock provided by Rosi Braidotti, Stacey Alaimo, Astrida Neimanis, and others whose work seeks in part to soften the bounded human. Furthermore, I draw on those concerned more specifically with the petric, including Hugo Reinert, Jeffrey Cohen, and Kathryn Yusoff. Extending lithic thinking, I turn to the body and present lithic feminism, asking how a lithic body can inform new feminist subjectivities, and what a lithic feminist approach to materiality entails. Contemporary artists Anicka Yi, Nina Canell, Cecilia Jonsson, Raukura Turei, Te Ara Minhinnick, and Pauline Rhodes are presented in this exegesis as lithic thinking artists. I investigate the origins of the materials I work with, researching sites of extractive mining here in Aotearoa New Zealand, both historic and contemporary, specifically onepū (black sand) mining and steel making at Waiuku, iron quarrying and smelting at Onekaka, and copper and chromite mining at Whakatū Nelson. Layered through this exegesis is my position as Tangata Tiriti (Treaty partner) in Aotearoa and the responsibilities that this position entails. These responsibilities lead me to consider the role of sites in the landscape in my project and the ethics of using earthly materials in an art practice.