Untitled (Dune Lenses III)

Kapwani Kiwanga
Untitled (Dune Lenses III), 2021
Two Handblown Glass Lenses, Mounted on Steel, Silica Sand, Plinth
Variable Dimensions

Taking up a central part of the presentation is Dune, featuring two glass lenses blown from Texas silica sand. Here Kiwanga ponders the multiple forms that sand can take. A plinth filled with Silica sand asks the audience to consider the impact that these small grains have had on the environment in another collective form: as a medium for hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, a method of oil and natural gas extraction that began in the US commercially in the 1950s. Two lenses made from that same Silica sand are positioned in specific orientations in the sand encouraging visitors to consider the way they look at such simple and often-overlooked materials.