#midden

Megan Cope, RE FORMATION 2016-19 / Cast-concrete oyster shells, copper slag / 12,000+ pieces: installed dimensions variable.

The word ‘midden’ means simply ‘refuse pile’, but these shell mounds – which have been found in coastal regions all over the world – should really be understood as material archives, which always marked sites of social and ceremonial gathering. Working within the context of Australia's settler colonial history, Quandamooka artist Megan Cope has emphasised the significance of Aboriginal middens as architectural structures. She creates sculptural installations with thousands of cast-concrete oyster shells in meticulously arranged mounds, evoking the ancient middens that were desecrated for use in concrete production. Some of these installations have also deployed copper slag – a glittery black sand that arises as a by-product of industrial copper extraction – pointing to the continuing destruction of sacred Aboriginal sites through contemporary mining practices in Australia.

Canoe on ancient shell midden.