Otobong Nkanga: Everything comes from nature, even if we're holding a laptop or even if we're holding a cup. But every natural resource seems to be cheaper than what is processed. And that affects, of course, different landscapes and people and economies. Places that have raw materials are places of extractions, and there's no repair in any way.
The anthracite sculptures are taken from the mines. Anthracite is from the family of coal, this mineral that is quite contested today in relation to energy. It has a very emotional relationship to places struggling between building new energies and the old energies of the past. I thought it's interesting to have tears in relation to this thing that drives an old, past economy.
We talk about sustainability, but the overarching systems are not made for that. One of the things I was very much interested in relation to this exhibition was to be able to have hardly any waste. And so a lot of the consideration was to think of materials that we can use. The ceramic pieces can have a life without having to be thrown away. The anthracite can go back to someone sculpting it or working with it. I think it's like looking for ways in which one can reduce that footprint.