The Fossil Era

"The Fossil Era" examines the current "present tense" as a volatile interlude within the vast chronology of the Earth system. By framing the series between the primordial blueprint of the fern and the precarious presence of the Northern Gannet, the work positions the industrial age not as a permanent state, but as a disruptive transitional phase. The sevenfold structure follows a narrative arc that pivots around a central industrial monument—an urban combustion scene rendered in sulfurous yellow. This panoramic turning point reflects the immense gravity of our carbon-dependent present within the wider cycles of the planet. The sequence begins with the fern, representing the ancient biological origin of the very carbon that fuels the modern world. It concludes with the gannets—sentinels of the Anthropocene—embodying a biosphere straining under industrial exhalations. Between these biological anchors, the monolithic machinery of coal extraction stands as a rigid, skeletal inheritance. These structures represent the "fossilised" grip of a production era that remains a physical reality even as its environmental consequences become geological. Within this sequence, the skeletal remains of burnt trees and the solitary gauging tower stand as a grim menetekel, signaling both the immediate destruction of landscapes by wildfire and the silent, inexorable rise of sea levels. Through this lens, the heavy machinery is reimagined as a temporary, iron-clad intrusion upon the deeper rhythms of the Earth. The series documents a collective struggle to transcend this carbon-tethered existence, capturing the inherent tension of a society caught between the immense momentum of its industrial past and the urgent necessity of a biological future. By utilising this specific seven-part arrangement, the work mirrors a classical tragedy where the central hubris of combustion is framed by the enduring, yet fragile, architecture of life.