On Friday 29 July, Melanie King will present a seminar which broadly considers the use of precious metals in astronomy, photography, jewellery, and engineering. The seminar discusses a range of issues surrounding extractivism and colonialism, relating to the current unsustainable uses of silver, palladium, and other heavy metals.
Alice Cazenave will discuss her doctoral research and practice, looking at neo-colonial resource extraction.
Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel will discuss her experience with metallurgy as a spacecraft engineer, and lecturer in metallurgy.
Dr Ignacio Acosta will speak about his “Copper Geographies” project, and his collaborative project “Traces of Nitrate”.
Artist Runo Lagomarsino will discuss his project “La place entre les murs”, a series of photographs and silver sculpture which has been made from silver extracted from fixative.
Artist and Jewellery designer Charlotte E Padgham will discuss jewellery created using discarded silver from photographic fixer.
Artist Oliver Raymond Barker will discuss his recent residency at the Exeter Sustainability Institute, looking at sustainable uses of silver within photographic practice.
Astronomer Dr Camilla Hansen will discuss her astronomical research, which demonstrates how precious metals such as silver and palladium can only be formed in high energy stellar events, such as supernova explosions.
Finally, Melanie King will discuss the work produced as part of her “Precious Metals” exhibition at Photofusion, of which this seminar is part. This project considers the materiality of silver and palladium, from their production within the cosmos, extraction from Earth and their uses within our society. This project focuses on silver and palladium use in photography, suggesting methods of using the materials that are less harmful to the environment.
The seminar is supported by Arts Council England and Melanie King’s Patreon supporters.