Lump

A scan image of a raw fragment of Whitby jet has been enlarged and printed onto fabric. Its material weight is translated into a thin, semi-translucent surface through which light passes, allowing veins, fractures and irregularities to appear as shifting tonal fields. The enlarged image allows the small geological fragment to operate as a surface to be read rather than as an object to be held.

The title names the formless and the abstract, but also suggests a potentially unsettling presence—something unknown or unwanted, like an ambiguous finding within the body. 

This work forms part of a broader investigation into Whitby jet as a drawing material, exploring ways of working with a substance traditionally associated with carving and ornament rather than with drawing.