Born in Northumberland, Sean Alec Auld’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in the landscape of North-East England. Auld’s practice draws heavily on his experience with raw materials, blending industrial and natural elements to create sculptures that are as much about place and history as they are about form. The carved and polished stones seen here are Larvikite, a striking igneous rock from Norway’s Oslo Rift, each mounted on legs of steel protruding from charred wood salvaged from the banks of the River Tyne. Indeed, Auld’s work reflects on the impact of trade on Northumberland’s shorelines; Larvikite is a Scandinavian rock that was used as ballast by ships travelling from Scandinavia as early as the eighth century, continuing into the present day. “As I see it,” says Auld, “the presence of this stone is a nod towards the connections between our two shores which has brought great change, upheaval and transformation to the region, through both trades and tradition.”

From this local connection, Sean considers the history of Larvikite through Norse mythology – ‘Ginnungagap’, the title of this work, refers to part of the Norse creation myth – and the stones themselves through an animist perspective. Auld considers their existence as living materials, shaped by geological and human histories alike.

Raising questions about waste, transformation, and the stories that materials carry, Auld asks us to reconsider the perceived value of discarded materials and their role in shaping landscapes and histories. In ‘Ginnungagap’, the interplay of stone, steel, and burned wood speaks to the cycles of creation and destruction, evoking both the enduring nature of the earth and humanity’s fleeting impact upon it.