Extract

The latest of my current art projects.

Three images set on white backgrounds along with black text naming the piece along with a gps location and a time stamp compose this piece. 

The images show the process of finding a piece of ochre in the stream bed , the pounding of the ochre to release the colour, and then the return of the ochre paste to the river to be taken away by the current.

A process of sign vehicle, response and subsequent objective is visible. I pick up the ochre in the river bed, sign object, my response is to pound the material into an ochre paste. The nest stage of release into the river is a little more ambiguous. How is this a self reinforcing objective? I have done this action so many times over the decades I have lived here that maybe the self reinforcing objective is that I know it works. I am learning here. This cycle is part of understanding how natural life communicates , from bacteria, to neurons, to plant cells. 

Another view of the objective is that it is a symbolic action linked to the title "Extract".  Currently I am involved in a campaign opposing a planned gold mine on a pristine edge of the  Kahurangi National Park.  As a jewellery maker I use  many materials which are "Extracts" from the earth.

How do I reconcile this?