Bitumen is predominantly used within industry and construction and is generally considered purely functional. Most responses regarding this material are negative: oppressive, destructive, grimy and difficult to work with because of its properties and the conditions required to work with it.However, Maria is interested in its potential for use in a creative capacity, utilizing the highly reflective visual quality of the bitumen and its entropic properties that enable it to change its state from solid to fluid depending on the surrounding conditions.

 

Maria also incorporates other industrial materials within her work, often using discarded scrapped pieces.As this exhibition is being held in such a visually stunning building on an important historical site, Maria aims to create work in response to the site itself, applying the Dockyard’s industrial past and subsequent deconstruction and reconstruction into a tourist attraction and museum.

< back to artists