Red Earth Copper Tracks

Anandi Ramamurthy

Red Earth Copper Tracks alludes to questions of trade, transport and control. Copper is an important and valuable raw material. It is used in electrical components, in ornamentation, for domestic utensils and in other alloys. It is not however a material which we are used to seeing in heavy industry where the hardness of steel predominates. As we enter the darkened space, the tracks shining in deep red copper are balanced carefully above our heads and just beyond our reach. The material seems to contradict the context. The reddish sandy by-product of copper mining on the floor of the space also compels us to engage in both a tactile and visual way, as it crunches under our feet. Slightly claustrophobic yet seeming to suggest movement that will take us beyond the gallery space we are not directed in our understanding of the piece but are left to engage in differing ways in its various suggestive but inconclusive themes. As in most of Permindar’s work, this is a piece which is as much about the physical properties of materials as it is about issues of trade and transport.

Anandi Ramamurthy: What would you say were the main concerns of your work?

Permindar Kaur: In the past, it was more to do with myself—my past memories, my dreams, the places I’ve seen, being in India. Then it moved away from being about me, and I looked at my family, my uncles—and now it has moved even further; it is about seeing things around me in a broader context. It is a continually evolving process.

AR: Throughout your work, the materials you use are quite significant. Which materials have you used, and what do they signify to you?

PK: I used to use steel quite a lot because it was a heavy and tough material. I like to control the material. It signified structures, buildings, and containment, but they were always see-through structures, so they were like cages. Then I started to work with glass, which was an obvious transition. More recently, I have been working with copper and rubber. Until now, the rubber was matte black, sucking in the light and was the opposite of the reflective properties of copper, which conducts or transfers ideas and materials—more a material suggestive of transport. The materials I use are very important to the ideas and the concepts within the work.

AR: Most of your work and most of the installations are entirely handmade, yet they always seem to reflect on industrial processes. What is the significance of that?

PK: I don’t know. It’s important that I make the objects like this because it is the presence of a human being working here or somebody working at it. Take this piece with the sleepers; there are about fifty-five of them. There is a process of making them along with the other objects. You can tell that they are handmade, not manufactured—like something that anyone can do. It’s more distinctive, more human. I want the presence of human beings to be in the work—the presence of human hands. This also relates to the idea of trade, industry, and the mass production of goods.

AR: In much of your work, your titles are more than just descriptive. How would you say that you have used the titles, and what was the purpose of your titles?

PK: The titles have been used to add another level or layer of meaning. It is not a descriptive title of what the work is. It is not an obvious title to say, “This is what the work is about.” It is another way of entering the work and to help to understand the materials used.

AR: When you talked about the main concerns of your work, you mentioned your trip to India. What would you say was significant about your cultural background in terms of your work, or do you not see it as significant?

PK: It is significant but not all-encompassing. It is one layer of the work. Throughout the work, I add more and more layers as I come to understand more fully the wider implications of what I’m doing. It is important, but it is quite restrictive to say that my work is purely to do with my cultural background.

AR: Can you tell us about the present piece that you are making in the gallery, and what is it called?

PK: The title is Red Earth, Copper Tracks. It is to do with mining—copper mining mainly—but not entirely. When you walk into the space, it has associations with mines. The space is darkened, and there are railway tracks above. They could be the tracks that take away the copper as it is mined. Copper is relevant to so many different aspects of trade and industry. It is essential for electrical components, which are used in large quantities in technologically advanced societies. The places that have the greatest demand for copper are Japan, Europe, and America. Although America is self-sufficient, Japan and Europe have to obtain their supplies from the ‘Third World,’ so copper reflects on these relationships. It’s not just something to do with the past; it’s quite relevant to trade today. Recently, I have also started to explore the associations of white rubber, which I use in this piece. It is really as important as copper in terms of trade.

AR: How do these ideas come across in your work?

PK: It is a bit about the history of copper mining and rubber plantations. It is not a direct representation of facts or issues. I am trying to allude to particular ideas. It’s not to do with a mine in a particular location. If you walked in, you might not think it was to do with copper mining at all. It is abstracting certain information.

AR: What was the significance of using rubber and copper together?

PK: Copper is associated with transport, as I have said before, it is a conductor. Rubber is the opposite. The white rubber is used in the sleepers. The sleepers are usually used to hold the tracks down to give them stability and support. Here, they are just hanging there in the air, and in fact, the interiors are made from foam. The rubber and copper are both valuable, precious materials and important for trade.

AR: What about the sand on the floor?

PK: It is to do with the earth; it also creates an association with one of the by-products of the copper mining industry—a red dust, the same colour as this sand. There is a mine in Sweden where most of the buildings around have been coloured this deep red colour.

AR: Why did you use railway tracks?

PK: Railways seem to me a basic symbol of transport and trade, more than roads, boats, and planes.

AR: When you walk into the space, the tracks will be above us rather than below us in the way that we normally see them. Why did you deliberately do that?

PK: The tracks are high above your head, so when you walk into the space, you enter a division between the track above and the red earth floor below. It is as though the track is disconnected from the person, so there is no way that the person can get on, and therefore the raw materials of copper and rubber are also distanced from them. They have no idea where the tracks are coming from or where they are going.

I also wanted the piece to be about control. If you are looking down or are on the same level, you can walk on the tracks, and you can follow them. But when they are above you, there is something going on which you have no control over.

Anandi Ramamurthy, University of Lancashire, May 1993

Exhibition leaflet to go with exhibition Red Earth at Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston 1993

Part of the Embers series of work, 3 Artists Journeys and Recollections

Zarina Bhimji – I will always be here

Josephine Thom – Working Edge

Permindar Kaur – Red Earth