From Dawn to Dust

Casey, Sarah (2025) From Dawn to Dust. [Exhibition]

Abstract

This display examines items in the Archive of Sculptors’ Papers that reveal how artists have engaged with the ephemeral materiality of time and natural processes. Fragile ice sculptures contingent on the warmth of the morning sun, snow forms melted by urine, and works incorporating domestic dust and the residue of fire are explored through archival material. The selection, made by artist Sarah Casey, offers insight into the process of making these works, including tools, photographic documentation of work in progress, sketchbook notes and preparatory work. Each reveals human action mingling with processes that might at first be thought ‘natural’, but on closer inspection, these categories become blurred. Dating from 1980 to the present, the items span a period of growing awareness of the impact of human traces upon the environment and the interrelationship between human and natural forces. Drawn from the archive of British sculpture this selection provides only a small glimpse into the ways artists have collaborated with environmental materiality. The exhibition text also points visitors to resources in the Institute library that cover a more diverse range of practices engaging with the themes of the display. From Dawn to Dust coincides with SUNLIGHT: Roger Ackling and Sarah Casey: Negative Mass Balance, on display at the Henry Moore Institute from 4 April to 22 June 2025. These ideas will be further explored in the one-day conference Forces of Nature, at the Institute on 21 May 2025. Please see website for details.