Included in GROUND 4 Extra, at Florence Arts Centre, Cumbria: ‘The Carbon Landscapes Art Project is a new dance, movement and visual art collaboration by artists, Catherine Hawkins and Jayne Seddon. After more than a decade of developing a multidisciplinary approach to arts practice in the environment, this new project will allow the two artists to do this at home, in the carbon landscapes of the North West – the material for their practice. They will work on site at Florence Arts Centre to research and develop this process-based work, using the red iron ore as material for new drawings and site-responsive performance work.’

Exploring the site through collaboration; merging visual art and movement with performative drawing, intimates ideas around film, sited in post-industrial landscapes that are being reclaimed by nature. This will use documentation of the work on site -which is  spontaneous and with found materials, like Egremont Red in its raw form.  The Red Iron oxide, or hematite produces distinct dark red marks. The pigment has been found in cave paintings and the name originates from Greek haimatitis meaning ‘blood red’. The Florence Paintmakers create fine pencils, and oil paint derived from this rich pigment. Hematite is said to have grounding properties which absorb negative energy, calm and has protective properties. Physically, it is used to protect against geopathic stress and for detoxification.

‘NASA has discovered that hematite is one of the most abundant minerals in the rocks and soils on the surface of Mars. An Abundance of hematite in Martian rocks and surface materials gives the landscape a reddish-brown colour and is why the planet appears red in the night sky. It is the origin of Mars’ Red Planet’ nickname’ – Geology.com. In 2004 researchers found millions of small spheres, which they named Martian Blueberries – similar to the ones at Florence Mine which were used in this project.