What is a cave if not an opening into a body,
Tremenheere Gallery, 2024

What is a Cave if not an Opening into a Body is an artist moving image piece developed through the support of the Newlyn School of Art Mentorship Programme and the Toby O'Brien Foundation. It was shown at the exhibition EPOCH, Tremenheere Gallery in 2024.

Developed in collaboration with movement artist Rabindranath X Bhose, What is a Cave if not an Opening into the Body is an exploration of Cornish land histories and the links between mine shafts, ancient holy wells, divinity and gender dissidence. It is rooted in research into lithium mined from the earth, the lithium found in holy wells and also pharmacologically manufactured lithium in treatments for madness. A series of blinking images and shaky shots tell a tender story of queer and crip masculinity in the rural. Blurring lines between the body and the landscape, the moving image presents different holes as a route to transformation whether that be the hole of the shaft, the well, the stone or the testosterone injection site.