Porous Boundaries

Porous Boundaries brings together chalk collected from the South Downs and discarded shoelaces transformed through heat. Melted and fused into a rigid openwork structure, the shoelaces rest upon the surface of the chalk, creating a dialogue between geological material and petrochemical matter.

The work draws upon the changing appearance of both materials. A thin veneer of green algae has developed across the chalk through prolonged exposure to moisture, while the bright yellow shoelaces shift through melting into a viscous green form that echoes the colour and texture of organic growth. As a result, distinctions between natural and synthetic become increasingly difficult to discern.

The title refers to the instability of boundaries that are often assumed to separate nature from manufacture. Rather than existing as discrete categories, the materials appear to merge visually and conceptually, suggesting forms of exchange, contamination and coexistence. The work reflects upon contemporary ecological conditions in which petrochemical materials increasingly enter soils, waterways and geological systems.

Presented as part of Neither Natural, Porous Boundaries considers how synthetic materials become embedded within the environments they inhabit, producing new hybrid formations that challenge conventional understandings of what constitutes the natural world.