Tales from the Terranean (2026-ongoing)
Tales from the Terranean is a sculptural installation that examines how abstract representation is enlisted to give form to models of ecological and environmental accounting that are currently emerging to “value” nature, including air, water, soil, forests, minerals, and the ecological systems essential to life. These models involve not only creating new asset classes, but also building consensus around the valuation, monetization, and financialization of nature.
The work reflects established as well emerging measures of terrestrial wealth in a series of a few hundred small, handmade, abstract sculptures that materialise the technical images used for making visible, understandable, and immediate the interactions between extractive activities, economy, society and the environment.
Created from commonly available materials, the simplicity and fragility of construction communicates a certain irreverence towards the predictions, scenarios, theories and historical accounts presented - the tales through which scientists, analysts, policy advisors, and environmental and ecological economists write the history of the future.
With “Tales from the Terranean,” we engage how ecosystems and biodiversity above-ground are modeled and evaluated. This project complements the work “Tales from the Subterranean” which used similar formal elements to examine the extraction and valuation of underground, non-renewable "resources," including oil, gas, rare earths and minerals.
Tales from the Terranean, 2026-ongoing, installation: bamboo, metal, coloured gels, thread, paper, ink and wood. Variable dimensions. Installation view, Medina Triennial, Medina, USA, 2026. Photo credits: Horse and Sparrow.
