Paul Cocksedge’s series of artworks using anthracite draw attention to carbon emissions in awe-inspiring ways.

Without darkness, there couldn’t be light – without 2500 pieces of coal there couldn’t be Coalescence, Paul Cocksedge’s utterly beautiful and hugely illuminating artwork – one of the best see-it-in-person-if-you-possibly-can installations of the last year.

Having debuted in Liverpool Cathedral before moving to the epic surrounds of The Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College in London’s Greenwich, Coalesence comprises 2,500 pieces of anthracite, the naturally shiny, high-carbon and lustrous black coal.

Excavated from the UK’s last remaining coal mine, it represents the exact volume of coal that would be consumed by a single light bulb left burning for a year.

Coalescence has now evolved into a larger body of work that includes 20 Trees, and Blackout, each seeing the anthracite taking a different form and encapsulating the yin and yang of the theme in a slightly different way.

“This is a wake-up call. Witnessing coal being extracted from the earth was an eye-opening experience. Raising it into these public spaces particularly in a time when all of us are talking about energy consumption, felt apt.” – Paul Cocksedge.

Cocksedge co-founded his eponymous creative studio in Hackney in 2002 with his business partner Joana Pinho, and has built a reputation for highly engaging work that is as unorthodox approach to materials in works that span public art, sculpture and architectural installation. Science is common theme, with Cocksedge frequently found obsessively investigating the limitations of processes, materials, light and the human body.

“I want to engage with the public in a way that is thought-provoking, prompting bigger questions around energy consumption, the history of fossil fuels, and the need to reach net zero.” 

Photos ©Mark Cocksedge 2023