The inner mechanics of the oil industry are often invisible to us. All kinds of tools, machinery, refining equipment, furnaces, ships and carriers. For an industry that is so consequential to modern life, this continued invisibility is puzzling. In this work, the steel rope cables that carry oil from the depths of the earth to the surface of the ground take centre stage. When cut in half, these steel ropes reveal mesmerising patterns that resemble flowers and blossoms, geometric designs or hyper-visual decorative elements. By recreating their shapes as two-dimensional metallic sculptural forms, something resembling a ‘flower field’ begins to bloom in their place, creating a space that mimics the miraculous strangeness that oil has bestowed upon our lives: the poison apple in the garden of Eden. The blooms are made up of different shades of iridescent colours, taking their cue from the shimmering surface of the oil itself.
The title of the work, “NAWA”, originates from the Japanese word for rope, as well as the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (N-W-H) that also indicate ropes, as the ancient Egyptians were the first to use rope mechanisms as a technological resource.