Working the Stasis, created in partnership with English Heritage, explores the conservation and maintenance of Hadrian’s Wall and its surrounding sites and collected artefacts. The ruins of Hadrian’s Wall stretch across Northern England from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Firth. Teams of people work endlessly to preserve them, making it appear as if no further time passes. Dawn worked with English Heritage along with Hadrian’s National Path and Northumberland National Parks Authority to investigate the tension between the monument, artefacts, and archives and the biological processes that work to degrade them.

Dawn Felicia Knox created three interlinking exhibitions that explore archive, taxonomies and the way artists and archeologists investigate and conserve objects. She documented the conservation and maintenance work through photography, video and sound recording. The documentation was installed as a cabinet intervention in Chesters Museum. Further, she collected all that is removed the process of preservation and conservation such as dust, weeds and rabbits which she catalogued and exhibited in her archive at Birdoswald museum. The third exhibition was a series of photograms of the Roman artefacts and prints of her archive shown in the Vane Gallery, Newcastle.

This project was funded by Arts Council England and English Heritage.

Visit www.stasis.dawnfelicia.com to learn more about the project.