(Re)Grounding 

Saturday 18 November - Saturday 16 December
Open Wednesday - Saturday, 12pm - 5pm
The NewBridge Project,  4-8 Clarence Walk, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE2 1AL
Preview: Friday 17 November, 4.30pm – 8pm 

Journeying from the industrial landscapes of Ukraine to former coal mines and community gardens of the North East, artists Alexandra Clod (Krolikowska) and Karolina Uskakovych respond to the climate crisis by exploring the shared industrial past of the UK and Ukraine and its impact today.

For the (Re)Grounding exhibition, Alexandra connects her grandfather’s mining heritage and the classical myths of the underworld to the story of coal and its extraction, while Karolina explores human-land relationships during times of war and industrial transformation through gardening.

Casting light on the Anthropocene era - where human actions dictate our climate and environmental future, their message is a shared one: to understand where we are coming from in order to nurture the land and our planet and stop the damage that is being done.

​(Re)Grounding is co-produced by D6 and Kyiv-based IZOLYATSIA, with D6 curator in residence Lucy Nychai and is part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture devised jointly by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute.
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Find out more about the (Re)Grounding residencies and programme here.

Exhibition works

Alexandra Clod

The Roots of My Longing 
Katabasis 
CO2 Curtain 

The story of coal and its extraction is at the heart of Alexandra’s series of work. For her film The Roots of my Longing she journeyed to coal spoil heaps in Ukraine’s Lviv region to reenact her grandfather's work as a miner.

​While in a series of still-life photographs  entitled Katabasis, which references the journey to the underworld of classical mythology, everyday objects like mining lamps and pieces of coal are placed next to artefacts with mythological or literary meaning, such as pomegranates and roses. Together they place industrial heritage in the myths of the past.

The film CO2 Curtain references the Carboniferous period when carbon was moving from the atmosphere into the ground to form coal. Now, burning coal, carbon dioxide is sent back into the atmosphere – in the opposite direction, locking our skies and our breathing deeply. 

Karolina Uskakovych

Boots on the ground, hands in the soil 
Common Ground | Newcastle community gardens and allotments map

​Karolina looks to  familial and spiritual connections to place, and  explores how to find common ground with each other, ourselves, and our environment through the practice of gardening.

​Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil is a film that captures both long distance and in person conversations with the artist’s grandmother about her tomato garden, which takes on a new meaning after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To transport audiences to the garden, Karolina has recorded its sounds and recreated its smells with essential oils extracted from the tomato foliage.

Alongside the film, there is an installation featuring flower beds with photos and a map of communal gardens in Newcastle where Karolina spent time researching.

Earthing Science - film collaboration 

Grounding, also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that 'ground' or electrically reconnect you to the earth.

This practice relies on earthing science and grounding physics to explain how electrical charges from the earth can have positive effects on your body. 

There are few types of grounding, such as walking barefoot, lying on the ground, submersing in water and using grounding equipment. 

Both artists were practicing grounding techniques far from their home, Karolina in Newcastle and Alexandra in Helsinki. By grounding themselves to the surface of the earth, rocks, trees and immersing themselves in the ocean, they bypass geographic distances by reconnecting their bodies with the body of the earth and thus re-establishing their belonging to nature. 

The artists present their experiences of grounding in two films that run alongside each other. 

Find out more about the grounding technique here.

empty spaces

Empty Spaces is a site-specific photo project by Karolina and Alexandra, developed for the Edwardian Lecture Theatre in the Common Room during their (Re)Grounding residencies in Newcastle.

The venue is home to the Mining Institute and used as an educational space for delivering lectures on engineering and mining. Its walls are decorated with photographs of the institute's presidents dating back to 1852 - honoured specialists in the mining field. To disrupt the imposing series of black and white portraits, the artists decided to fill the empty frames with images of people and other-than-human actors who contributed to the development of the industry, but do not fit into the hierarchical architecture of places like the lecture theatre.

The images represent different and often overlooked parts of the common history of the area. Much like the traditional systems that prioritise certain professions or status, these contributions are unable to join the existing showcase alongside the previous members, and so remain attached to the outside.
Images:  
Who can see Persephone, Alexandra Clod | Boots on the ground, hands in the soil , film still, Karolina Uskakovych | Earthing, film still, Karolina Uskakovych | The artists at the Common Room; photo: Amelia Read