charcoal – Creative & dance journal

Situating an Integrated Research Practice: charcoal and expression as a mediating material and practice

I came across the idea of more-than-human-expression. To aid my understanding, I draw this diagram which seeks to reconcile the Residuals art series (drawing with charcoal) and crop trials of potato plants and charcoal (wood biochar) which I produced. The unifying concept of expression in human and non-human actors (potato plants) through charcoal, shows the material, practice and conceptual integration in an ontology.

Crop trials with biochar and the residuals art series

The residuals series of art works/performances used biochar granules that were re-purposed as artists charcoal for drawing. The series ran parallel to crop trials of potatoes with biochar – which acts as a plant fertiliser. The abstract for a scientific paper about these trials in 2024 is presented here which was developed with my collaborator Karl Wallendszus in 2025.

Residuals #1: drawings

Beside the dance and movement making of the Residuals #1 performance, it created a large charcoal drawing about 3 metres by 1.5 metres in size. There were also numerous photographs made by my co-creator John Hazel and me of its surface during and after the performance.

Residuals #1: performance

I dived into the surface of the paper. Beneath me, carbon residuals (charcoal) assisted my passage as I slide across the white paper, parting the material and marking the paper. John Hazel who was co-creating the charcoal drawing with me, followed by stepping and drawing with his shod foot. The dance studio at the Old Fire Station, Oxford was our performance venue for this ‘drawing-dance’ on Tuesday 16 January 2024.