One final element throughout the pieces is the contrast between presence and absence. This feels intrinsic to the subject matter, exploring a space that lies beneath also feels like exploring a nothing space, its present but it also exists below our understanding of inhabited space and within each use of language there is of course the absence of the person who wrote it. Each form of language relies on this absence. The codes would not exist if there were not a change of workers, a teams that leaves and one which comes to carry on the job. The headstones rely on a persons absence, of loss and in process, a removal of material through engraving. 

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The access to the space itself also boarders on a presence and absence. The man holes create a solid surface to cover a void, the road work that occurs both removes and fills in this space, we gain access to the underneath through a removal.

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In these images, as with the images used on the pieces not only is there a removal of materials but also a removal of person, these photos document the stages in-between work forces when the sites are left unmanned. But a time when the evidence of those people still remains, in the discarded tools, equipment and personal items as well as the piles of earth and chasms of space.

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Within the pieces in the exhibition I wanted to explore presence of the absence of it through the faces of the marker posts. Some contain plaques of information and others remain empty. It is not uncommon for marker posts to be without information plaques, I am assuming the presence of the posts themselves can sometimes act as indicator enough.

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I hope this short walk through has given you a little insight into my research process and helped explain some of the concepts behind the pieces in the exhibition.

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