Counter Lands

mild steel, water (evaporated), salt, resin | 2018 - 2020

Hempstead's work remains based in contrary or binary relationships; preservation and decomposition, strength and vulnerability, presence and absence, renewal and death. The body and its ephemeral and temporal boundaries are a recurring theme in her artworks, with a gravitation towards the temperamental material of steel. 

Hempstead's approach to this solid materials, which is often seen as indestructible, solid, unbreakable, is also binary. Her work is often in a state of decay or decomposition, only set in permanence after the solution of salt and water, have assisted to break and strip back the strength of the industrial steel, to reveal a new texture. The surface of her work mimics the peeling, shedding and ageing qualities of the skin, giving the work a subtle sensitivity and vulnerability. This vulnerability further highlights the opposing states of permanence and solidity in the materials.  

The alchemy of water and salt evaporates over time and the metal is left with a topographic residue of oranges, greens and gunmetal greys. Each piece is notable for its multi layered finish and tactile nature and the final artworks remain ‘in process’, transient and never complete. Here, time is represented as a continuing motion and visual material.

Wistful and restrained, these works are autonomous and allowed to map their own landscape, highlighting Hempstead’s relinquished control and process based methodology.