Reverse Archaeolgy, 2010
Installation at the Life is Art Foundation, Santa Rosa, CA, October 2010
Land Art at its impetus was criticized for utilizing destructive processes such as excavating wide cavities in fragile landscapes (Heizer) or using dynamite to structure it into a desired form (Smithson). In effect, it could be said that the original Land Artists viewed the landscape similar to modern developers – something to be shaped and plundered, a resource for exploitation. The movement has since evolved, however, I seek to question this lingering viewpoint of land itself as something from which humans constantly must take from.
Another influence of Land Art has been Pre-Columbian artifacts and architecture. As much as I have always enjoyed visiting archaeological museums, I must acknowledge that the practice of archaeology is a form of modern grave robbing. The basis of its philosophy is that by examining the relics of the past, we reveal insights into our present. However, the ethical controversy remains for numerous non-Western peoples that their ancestral burial grounds and sacred sites have been raided and violated. Perhaps discoveries lie more in our methods of unearthing the past – who is doing the digging, and what are they looking for? Which raises the question, does Western imperialism and colonialism extend even into non-Western indigenous histories? Who writes these histories? Are we raiding the past so that we can re-write it?
This project takes the form of an institutional critique, asking participants to consider these ideas, and then to reverse the process. As a means of creating something to give to the land, I have made these vessels from compostable, handmade paper. The paper itself is made from the agricultural excess of plants harvested on the land of the Life is Art Foundation, and infused with native wildflower seeds. I asked participants to bury these vessels, returning them to the earth, where the paper will biodegrade and the seeds will grow. There, the traces of their existences will dissolve and be reborn into a new growth.
In archaeology, the search is for evidence and artifact. However, in this case, as the plants grow, the earth itself becomes the evidence.
