Calcareous Earth Artistic responses to the dental, cranial collections at The Royal College of Surgeons Library & Archives.
Gallagher Artist in Residence for 2026, The Royal College of Surgeons of England Library & Archives
Through my artistic research project Calcareous Earth, I have been exploring the Oral, Dental, and Craniofacial collections at the Royal College of Surgeons Library & Archives. Looking at the materiality of teeth through a deep space-time perspective and ideas of chemical kinship, I’ve extended my interest in calcium carbonate – and calcium – as a bridge between living and non-living systems and the complex entanglements between the human and the mineral. I started with John Hunter’s treatise The Natural History of Human Teeth where he records attempts to delineate this boundary between xxx and xxx via experiments with madder dye on teeth, finding xxx. I’ve since been on a wonderful journey through the cavernous space of the library and archive, following this debate through to contemporary science around bio-mineralisation processes involved in the laying down of tooth enamel, which are controlled by calcium signalling that works according to circadian rhythms. The work of May Mellanby whose work around diet and the birth/enamel lines in teeth is also informing responses. Links are also present between prisms, calcium and spectra too, thinking about lines or strata across interlocking scales.