๐๐ข๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ข๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ช๐ข
The installation for my 2nd year critique includes a video reciting excerpts of these texts, porcelain beakers that weep iodine & x-ray prints of nuclear waste barrels weighted by lead sinkers.
Poured into the vessels is Iodine. As it seeps through the crackled glazed it turns a haunting shade of mauve when in contact with starch.
๐๐ธ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฎ is an element essential for human thyroid function.
& in the case of a nuclear emergency can be consumed to protect from radiation.
๐๐ธ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฎ is found in the ocean and can be extracted from seaweed.
The name "iode", from the Ancient Greek แผฐฮฟฮตฮนฮดฮฎฯ (ioeidฤs, "violet"), was given to this newly discovered element because of the hue of itโs vapour.
(audio for video created from samples of ionizing particles close to a condenser mic)
A tryptic of three negatives printed on clear film, weighted by lead fishing lures.
The images are of x-rays of nuclear waste barrels. Images published from a document detailing the process of dealing with nuclear waste.
The third image is a print of my grandfather working as a laboratory technician in soil research.
His job was to test what vegetables would grow in fallout soil, in the case of a nuclear attack. My grandfather along with nearly all of his colleagues later died from various blood related cancers likely linked to exposure.
Routinely my grandfatherโs lab coat would be collected and brought to a lab to determine how much radiation he had been exposed to. His lab coatโand arguably his lifeโbecame quantitative research, a test in a larger experiment.
The lab coat, like all materials used in proximity to radioactive substances, ended up in lead barrels: as nuclear waste.
