The term “climate canary” has its origins in the phrase “canary in a coal mine.” These canaries are messengers, harbingers that a particular catastrophic event is near. Each bird in The Canary Project is embedded in resin casts of natural crystal formations or found rocks. A transparent facet of the cast reveals the embalmed bird, positioned upright and looking forward, a frozen gesture of isolation. The artificially accelerated fossilization of a canary inside a synthetic geological object placed on display with medical hardware presents us with an entanglement of contradictory realities and temporal instabilities. What sacrificial warning does the canary tell us and when was it revealed?
Reimagining the organic process and formation of quartz crystals, Dooling’s “Crystal Melts” series replicates these natural forms into post-natural melting resin crystals as a reflection upon the growing consumer demand on healing crystals and global warming. Clear quartz crystals are believed by many to have healing properties, absorb negative energy, stimulate positive energy, and balance the immune system. Perhaps not so ironically, the global market for healing crystals has revealed both questionable working conditions for those mining crystal specimens and a depletion of this natural resource.
In Dooling’s work, the artificial becomes a synthetic copy of the original crystal – disappearing its healing properties and creating a duplication system through the process of casting. This disappearance is furthered in the installations of crystals melting into clear puddles of resin, becoming miniaturized and vanishing glacial landscapes.
Visit Crystals and Canaries
The term “climate canary” has its origins in the phrase “canary in a coal mine.” These canaries are messengers, harbingers that a particular catastrophic event is near. Each bird in The Canary Project is embedded in resin casts of natural crystal formations or found rocks. A transparent facet of the cast reveals the embalmed bird, positioned upright and looking forward, a frozen gesture of isolation. The artificially accelerated fossilization of a canary inside a synthetic geological object placed on display with medical hardware presents us with an entanglement of contradictory realities and temporal instabilities. What sacrificial warning does the canary tell us and when was it revealed?
Reimagining the organic process and formation of quartz crystals, Dooling’s “Crystal Melts” series replicates these natural forms into post-natural melting resin crystals as a reflection upon the growing consumer demand on healing crystals and global warming. Clear quartz crystals are believed by many to have healing properties, absorb negative energy, stimulate positive energy, and balance the immune system. Perhaps not so ironically, the global market for healing crystals has revealed both questionable working conditions for those mining crystal specimens and a depletion of this natural resource.
In Dooling’s work, the artificial becomes a synthetic copy of the original crystal – disappearing its healing properties and creating a duplication system through the process of casting. This disappearance is furthered in the installations of crystals melting into clear puddles of resin, becoming miniaturized and vanishing glacial landscapes.