Insulana

A series of eruptions that would transform the Azores archipelago had begun on 27 September 1957. They had started underwater and lasted for thirteen months. Eight days after the first eruption, the island of Faial was completely covered in ash. The consequences were devastating. Sixty years later, Patricia Dauder walked over the solid ash. She travelled to the island of Faial during an artist’s residency at the Arquipélago Centro de Artes Contemporâneas on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. She found herself walking over the roof tiles of the buildings that had once formed a small town and, by 2017, had been exposed by the erosion caused by atmospheric agents. The catastrophe wiped out crops and pastures, although it caused no casualties. The natural forces unleashed by the birth of a new island left the waters contaminated with ashes.