This ongoing residency with Golden Earth Studio explores the potential of excavated earth as a creative and site-responsive material. Golden Earth Studio works to divert clay and other soils from construction sites that would otherwise be sent to landfill, repositioning these materials as resources within artistic and architectural processes. Through this collaboration, I am developing a series of works using clay excavated directly from their building sites, responding to the material in relation to its geological origin, displacement, and new context.

The research began on site, walking the excavation and studying the exposed stratigraphy to understand the clay within its geological setting. Samples were collected from different areas across the cut to examine variations in colour, density, and moisture. The material is London Clay, a marine clay deposited during the Eocene period (approximately 56–49 million years ago). It is iron-rich, typically brown to grey-brown, with distinctive blue-grey seams where the iron remains in a reduced state. When exposed to air these areas slowly oxidise, shifting towards reddish tones. The clay is highly plastic when wet, often sticky to work with, and shrinks and cracks during drying.