ORE
CORE
SCORE

LEE HARROP//STILL LIVES: A BEAUTIFUL SCIENCE

Still Lives — A beautiful science is the culmination of scientific and artistic research of specific geological core samples from the archives of the Western Australia core library and Northern Territory core library. Core samples are cylindrical pieces of rock created during the extraction process of diamond drilling in mining exploration and also for other stratigraphic understanding.

The process of gaining authorisation to use these core samples, including satisfying the scientific reporting, was a collaboration with Senior Geologist Melissa Drummond, Spectral Geologist Belinda Smith and Petrologist Alicia Verbeeten.

The artistic representation includes core samples shown at Charles Darwin University Art Gallery and the associated scientific data shown at Pirrie Art Space. Cathy Applegate has composed At the Core, in three sections: Stardust, Ancient Oceans and Subterranean in response to my work and the associated scientific data from the project. At the Core is performed by Cathy and Chen Hui at the exhibition openings.

I have engraved the core samples with words to reflect the content of the rock i.e. fossils. The larger display case contains all of the core samples obtained from the core libraries. Post exhibition, they will be returned to their respective core library to be placed back into the archive. The small display case contains core samples that are also from the Northern Territory and Western Australia given to me during this project.

- Lee Harrop

Opening: 6pm Wednesday 21 August, 2019

Visits by appointment email: pirrie.space@gmail.com

Left: Lee Harrop, Warning - Facts 2019, digitally printed book including core sample. © 2019 Lee Harrop.
Below: Lee Harrop, Warning - Facts 2019, digitally printed book (web version). © 2019 Lee Harrop.