Objects: soot and wax. Ø 7.5cm (x 12)
Drawings: dust and graphite on dan xuan (rice) paper
137cm x 38cm (x6 drawings)
“As for me, I had at first imagined that cinders were there, not here but there, as a story to be told: cinders this old grey word, this dusty theme of humanity, the immemorial image had decomposed from within, a metaphor of metonymy of itself…”. Cinders, Jacques Derrida.
Dust is an element; it is of indeterminate dimensions, yet is something and nothing. At Rathfarnham Castle an architecture of dust was found in the overlooked and inaccessible places; between the floors and the rafters, chimneys and fireplaces, yet to be restored. Evading measure, dust is what remains of objects, places and people; it registers the space between the past and present. Down in the dirt, in the ordinarily invisible, micro and overlooked world, we see things clearly: within the castle the dust holds untold narratives and records of physical and historical natures. ‘Citizens of Dust’ seeks to amplify and activate this within our contemporary situation whilst acknowledging the past owners and residents of the castle.
Musket balls designed to fragment things to their smallest particle, resonating with conflict and uncertainty, were found amongst the hundreds of objects at the castle. The musket balls in ‘Citizens of Dust’ are constructed from soot collected from chimneys in the castle and cast in round forms with wax. They are crayon-like solids made from the dust of the past; holding possibility, potentiality and anticipation of the future. The drawings, upon which the objects are rested, were produced using other dust collected in the castle and graphite, and reference the marks, scuffs and traces upon the dining rooms walls.