Terraforming: an expanding practice is the second iteration of a growing body of work by Nicholas Burridge. It is his investigation into how volcanic histories have shaped our planet and our lives. This body of work has taken its starting point from the prospective copper mines of Victorias Western Volcanic Plain.

Most of the world’s copper comes from the mining of volcanic regions. We exhume and pulverize these extinct volcanoes in exchange for their minerals. These artworks contemplate this value judgement. To preserve the geological world or feed the technological revolution and its ever-increasing thirst for precious metals?

Burridge is a young artist who grew up in central Victoria and is now based in Footscray on the traditional lands of the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung people. He recently completed a residency at Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West culminating in his solo exhibition ‘Terraforming’. He has been a part of NotFair 2021, the Incinerator Art Award, Footscray Art Prize and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Monash University 2016.