I am interested in the perception of excavation as an uncovering of the truth. Hoard presents a landscape where notions of ownership are questioned. In its presentation of 742 looted archaeological sites and wounded landscapes, the document constructs different meanings and histories from the site images. Hoard is the reconfiguration of an archaeological report from the collections of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library and integrated with archive material from additional sources. Through my lending and duplicating of these selected images, the library became a looted site of contested ownership and authorship. Hoard (2010, unique bookwork) was installed in 2HB: What we make with words at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow using SOAS Library shelving. An open edition of Hoard was launched in 2012. Hoard (2012) adopts the format of an academic report and is distributed via Lulu.com.

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Kate Morrell is a London based artist whose work engages with archives as part of an expanded art practice. Her research-led practice takes the form of sculpture, drawing and book works. She gained an MA from the Royal College of Art in 2010. Recent projects have been realised at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, English Heritage’s Landguard Fort, Suffolk & The Armitt Museum & Library, Cumbria. Kate Morrell approaches libraries and archives as a catalyst to new work, addressing such sites as material and subject for an expanded art practice and not simply as neutral, transparent sites of record. The multidisciplinary nature of her practice has engaged with disciplines outside of the traditional remits of the arts, including archaeology and science.