As Above So Below

Summoning
OBORO, Montreal, Canada
January 25 - March 22, 2025

      As Above So Below, 2025
Copper, decarbonized steel, vitreous enamel
Dimensions variable 
Installation view at OBOROPhotograph by Yen-Chao Lin

As Above So Below is a gravity-defying large-scale installation composed of sculptures made from train-flattened Canadian copper pennies and enameled steel. It explores dowsing as an alternative technology for addressing land and water remediation, colonial histories, and capitalist extraction. Dowsing (water witching), involves using forked branches, metal rods, or pendulums to locate underground water, mineral deposits, buried sites, or other hidden and forgotten elements. Once condemned as witchcraft under the Inquisition, the practice remained common among rural farming communities and was later adopted by industry and military for resource detection. As Above So Below is the third and final piece of The Dowsing Triptych (The Eroding Garden-2019, and Paradis anonyme-2022).

Above, a flowing line of hand-riveted, train-flattened pennies moves through the space, forming a soft, undulating topography. Below, a shadowy counterpart made of enameled steel echoes and alters the copper line’s shape. This duality—above and below—evokes the tension between the luminous, jewel-like surface of copper and the dark underbelly of resource extraction; between product and labour, surface beauty and hidden cost.

Coming from a DIY background, I often work with found or easily accessible materials. Using pennies was intuitive as I investigated the relationship between resource extraction and dowsing, particularly mining within the Canadian context. Around 80% of the metal used in Canadian coins is domestically sourced. In 1976 the Royal Canadian Mint opened a second plant in Winnipeg to be closer to mines. Pennies were removed from circulation in 2013, when production costs exceeded their value at 1.6 cents.

I was initiated into flattening pennies on the tracks when I arrived in Canada; my first home was right next to the railroads. Flattening pennies on train tracks evokes joyful childhood memories, while referencing the violent legacy of colonial infrastructure, invoking the rail as a symbol of extractive power, forced displacement, and the exploitation of Chinese workers.

Through hand-riveting, I engage in a slow, tactile process that reclaims these tokens bearing the weight of empire and industry. The act is repetitive and intimate, reflecting on what it means to be Canadian, weaving together histories of land appropriation, mining, and my own experience as an immigrant.

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