In this wallpaper, the topological motifs that form the background immediately evoke the winding paths cut into the rock in mines and quarries. Here the artist deals with the exploitation of natural underground resources, in particular quartz, gold and lithium. Described as the new gold because of its scarcity and desirability for the manufacture of everyday consumer items such as car and mobile phone batteries, lithium is extracted from the ground or from salt lakes through extremely polluting extraction or evaporation processes. Throughout the wallpaper, small circular aerial views of the mining installations show their devastating impact on the landscape, suggesting the worst for the environment and local populations.
By linking yellow gold and “white” gold, the artist is also pointing to humankind's insatiable relationship with these precious minerals, as empires - whether colonial or capitalist - have always been built on the search for and exploitation of subsoil resources. Although we know today that these resources are finite and are being depleted faster than their intended use, there seems to be no stopping the construction of ever-deeper mines. In the grooves formed by the wallpaper patterns, the progressively darker color evokes this vertiginous plunge into the ground.
The sounds of machinery, of picks and shovels evoke the ambience of these sometimes dangerous environments, while the echo of a beating heart suggests the human being at work.
