UK
Norway, Austria, Chile
A ‘spectral index’ is a mathematical image calculation that renders its subject in false colour. In geological prospecting it is used to identify mineral deposits: a technique of mapping terrain for monetary gain. Combining satellite timelapses with infrared drone footage of lithium prospecting sites, and microscope imagery of damaged camera parts, the film considers how this spectral gaze frames our relationship with landscape, both presuming ownership and assuming its future purpose. Mapping has always been a means of circumscribing property, but in the technics of spectral prospecting, the calculation of chromatic values connects directly with a calculation of financial value.
The film was developed following a yearlong collaboration with the Horizon EU research project GREENPEG, who were prospecting for lithium-bearing pegmatites within Europe. During this period, I travelled with the consortium's geophysicists to Norway, Ireland and Austria documenting their work and discussing the techniques they used. In my own studio meanwhile I produced satellite timelapses of the landscapes surrounding copper and lithium mines in Northern Chile, and shot microscope footage of damaged camera sensors.
While the time spent with GREENPEG generated a lot of footage, very little of it is used in the final film. During the research process it became apparent to me that I was both highly critical of many of the assumptions that are baked into energy transition, and that my interest was in the planetary scale of the problem. Making a documentary style film about a single scientific project would have failed to address this scale, and unjustly targeted the critique at scientists whose motivations are fair. Spectral Index therefore focuses on the systemic aspects of the imaging techniques used, and the profitability calculation that they enable.