The Density of Dust is a video installation that was exhibited as part of the 2023 Images Festival. The instalation uses material collection and close listening to explore a centuries-old industrial building’s history and its surroundings.This two-channel installation confronts the viewer with both a micro and a macro view of matter that is decidedly sentient: bricks alive with their own memories, seeming to experience their own distant past; dirt and hair posing as galaxies soaring through the heavens. On-screen texts contemplate sediment and decay, listening for the voices of the past. The methodical cleaning of an ancient piece of machinery produces dust and flakes of rust that are then carefully swept up and bagged, hinting at some future cataloguing that will take place, perhaps revealing the multiplicity of layers. But a cautionary “Ghosts deserve their rest” urges us to step back and let the past rest.

As naakita writes: “History forms foundation. It lends structure to numerous presents and futures, allowing them necessary space to expand and multiply. As these expansions take place, traces of the past remain. With time, they become harder to see, fainter to hear, and often impossible to reach. Using archival research and investigations of the site’s internal landscapes, The Density of Dust aims to reveal some of the many layers of time and experiences the area hosts. In examining the building’s traces, the work considers these layers with curiosity, while simultaneously attuning itself to the spectres that inhabit them.”

Curated by Lisa Steele.