Axis Mundi: The Line and the Matter

2015 (ongoing), crushed ferrite magnets, rare earth magnets, steel, glass mirror. Ceiling to floor installation, dimensions variable.

Axis mundi is a Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. It is an astronomical and mythological phenomenon that crosses religious, secular and cultural contexts. Throughout history, humans have represented the axis mundi using symbols such as the tree, ladder, church spire, obelisk, skyscraper and mountain. Across various belief systems, it is considered a connection between the celestial and earthly realms. In Judaism we find Jacob’s Ladder, in Islam the Ka’aba, across various belief systems we find the Tree of Life, and the list continues.

Fielden has so far made two Axis Mundi works (2015 and 2021). In both of them, she draws a long line, either in three dimensions through space or on a two-dimensional plane. The act of drawing the line stems from Fielden’s ongoing preoccupation with the infinite line, made up of an infinite number of singular points, and the notion that any line drawn is a mere portion of its potential.

In this work, Fielden invokes the idea of axis mundi by drawing its line through space, linking fragile shards of broken ceramic magnets. The artist makes this material by smashing strong industrial magnets with a mortar and pestle, a transformative process not unlike traditional methods used to make pigments. This process reduces the material’s magnetic strength, producing a granular material with a fragile magnetic force.

While the grey magnetic shards draw reference to the graphic nature of a line, through their materiality they also bring to mind a ceramic at the opposite end of the spectrum – fine white porcelain. Here we find a poetic opposition: industrial and decorative, opaque and translucent, dark and light.

In the mirror, the line is sustained and it tapers to a single shard. This single point is a symbol for the geometric origin of a line, a mineral particle in clay, the beginning and the end of a form.

First made in 2015, this is Fielden’s earliest sculptural installation work. It has been shown at Artspace, The Lock-Up, Blacktown Arts Centre, Dominik Mersch Gallery and Gallery Funaki.