Santiago Díaz Escamilla

Stratum

2013

Single - channel video (color, sound); Charcoal and chalk on paper

Video and drawing are parallel spaces from which I approach geological matter through touch. My interest lies in the stratum, a layer of rock or sediment within a larger sequence. This condition leads me to think of the image as a surface that acquires volume, its malleable configuration changing with the medium in which it takes shape.

For the single-channel video, I work with images of rock formations sourced online. Using software, I deform and fold these files in on themselves, exploring their plasticity in the process. Composed of pixels, the image exists on the screen as light and computation, without the weight of physical materials. The tactile relation thus shifts to intangible matter conditioned by the digital environment.

I combine this moving mass with a recording, also found online, of the phenomenon known as “singing dunes.” In some arid regions, dry sand sliding down a slope can produce a low, sustained sound resembling a hum.

In the large-scale drawings, I approach matter differently. Guided by photographs of geological formations, I translate those references into layers of charcoal and chalk marks on paper. Working at this size also demands prolonged physical effort, and through that persistence I seek to impart weight and density to the surface. Within this hybrid project, I interweave manual processes and digital manipulation, returning to the same concern with matter as an active force.