‘Unnatural Voids’ explores the hidden environmental impact of steel focusing on iron ore extraction and the scars it creates on our planet. Taking the Kiruna Iron Mine in Sweden as a case study the project aims to expose the issues and question the disconnect between the material consumption and the landscapes that supply it.

Kiruna has been in operation since 1900 and is the largest underground iron ore mine in the world producing 90% of all the Iron in Europe. Kiruna has grown rich from the iron beneath but the town now faces destruction from the very thing that created its wealth. As the demand for minerals increases, the mine is being dug deeper causing the buildings to be unstable. The town is now being relocated 3 km east as part of a multi-decade process that’s expected to be completed by 2035.

This piece visually demonstrates the destructive nature of the mine in a way that directly relates to the material. By exposing the steel to controlled oxidation, a map has developed as the surface begins to corrode and scar the material mirroring the aerials from the mining site in the form of a rust-developed image. The piece becomes conceptual loop whereby the refined industrial product is returned to a state that visually recalls the terrain it was mined from.