Jake Harvey Ellora II, 2024

These carved, honed, and coloured relief sculptures are made from Scottish basalt. Geologically formed hundreds of millions of years ago in the bowels of a volcano, then erupted and quickly cooled, the basalt’s crystalline structure is a testimony of its original formation. It has a sense of almost unfathomable deep time. I’ve come to know that in addition to each stone carrying the evidence of its creation, when worked, the various carvers who shape it, and the function for which it is used, is therein.

The 'Ellora' relief sculptures were influenced by mark-making seen many years ago on the floor of a Buddhist cave in Ellora, India. Tangentially, they also have something to do with the cup ringed stones of Scotland - in particular, the Ringing Stone on the Isle of Tiree. In each of these encounters the purpose of these cup-marked rocks is indeterminate. There is a powerful sense of mystery and an agency that emanates from all these locations. In making these wall relief sculptures I’m trying to project that sense of the unknown, and a beauty with agency.