Empty Heritage

The small, printed pieces in Empty Heritage (2019) are similar to those in Remnant, however, this time they are meticulously presented within boxes, similar to a museological display. Made after revisiting the Harandi palaeontology museum in Kerman, this work responds to the ways in which prehistoric legacies are identified or evaluated by museum visitors, in this case, by me and my fellow Kerman citizens. Aesthetically, the pieces in Empty Heritage resemble the imprint of species fossilised in rock. In this work, the palaeontological record of Kerman is denoted as illusory and empty, given the lack of tangible biotic heritage in the region’s biosphere, that is, the lack of descendants from the creatures that inhabited Kerman in past millennia. As such, the land has experienced a deadend evolution and the human population must now endure living in a semi-lifeless environment. Through this reading of the events, the fossils categorised and presented in the Harandi museum shine a spotlight on the region’s rich prehistoric life and, in doing so, serve as a stark reminder of the empty and broken biotic legacy for contemporary local inhabitants. Empty Heritage alludes to the psychological impact of lacking a thriving biosphere on local individuals, and how this impacts on their attribution of value to their homeland.