Iron is the most abundant element on Earth,  a ubiquitous seemingly inexhaustible resource. For 3,000 years, humans have extracted it from the earth, forging it into tools, weapons, and sacred objects. In the industrial era, it built infrastructure; in the UK, canals were dug to transport it from the midlands south to London.

This research project investigates the complex lifecycle of iron and steel, from its deep geological history to its role in industrial and environmental transformation. As part of this inquiry, a collaboration with scientist Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute of Science led to the re-creation of green rust in the lab: a bluish-green iron oxide believed to be one of the first forms of iron oxide, emerging in an ancient Earth before atmospheric oxygen was abundant, and now considered as an essential element for the creation of life. Before iron took on its familiar red-orange hues, it likely passed through this transitional phase, shaped by early planetary conditions.

The culmination of this research is a short film that explores the shifting identity of iron—spanning its deep-time origins, its instrumental role in human civilization, and its planetary effects: extraction, infrastructure, waste.