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Hedwich Rooks (1995) calls herself a contemporary alchemist. She is interested in the transformation of matter, curious about its potential and history as well as the effects of interactions between matter and society. PetrifiCāre (2024) evolved out of Rooks’ fascination with the hypernatural powers of coal. The capital C in the title emphasizes the world care, thus inviting us to take better care of coal and other earth materials. After all, it takes millions of years before an incalculable amount of dead plant cells are transformed into this hard, porous rock, while we then burn it in no time at all. While on the one hand, this process has been the driving force behind most industrial production, on the other it has led to an emergency that endangers all life on earth. Rooks also sheds critical light on aluminium, a metal extracted from bauxite that is symbolic of both the modern age and colonial exploitation.
By experimenting with the stored energy of previous carbon lives in PetrifiCāre, Rooks draws our attention to our relationship with coal and stresses its multifaceted vivacity. In this context she attempted to manipulate coal with chemical substances. To find out whether she had actually altered its internal structure, she subsequently examined the coal using medical equipment like MRI and CT scanners – machines stacked with aluminium that was extracted using coal energy.
In her sculptures, Rooks combines coal with recycled aluminium sourced from the printed circuit bords of heatsinks, and plays with the paradoxical idea that earth materials actually produce fleeting images. This combination leads to surprising sculptures that prompt us to reflect on these materials in alternative ways.
Text: Esther Darley
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)