carbon mine

Vehicle emissions are unseen in driving behaviour.  These emissions happen out of sight behind us as we drive and when they are seen, it is always through the actions of another (i.e. from their exhaust pipe). While examining the bigger issue of fossil fuels, GHG emissions and climate change I began a project that changed the way I drive.

The Carbon Mine (or I can change the world in some small way) project involved the artist and participants collecting vehicle emissions particulates from their own motor vehicles and making brief notes about the kms travelled. The nature of note taking about personal driving trips became a fundamental part of the installation. The discs by themselves were no more than the emissions particulates they carried. Their reasons for existing are numerous but indelibly linked to social activity and environmental consequence. For many, this became not merely a revelation, but a sobering reminder of what is already known. I love and depend on my car but I imagine I can change the world in small but radically different ways by either using it or not. [1]