This project commenced in 2022 and continues to build as a resource with collaborations between the University and artists involved in Art-based fieldwork .

Not accessible to the public the Edward de Courcy Earth Science Museum offsite facility , University of Western Australia is a museum’s offsite research facility, where researchers’ fieldwork samples are stored.

This includes an extensive range of stromatolite samples taken from my two fieldwork locations. This facility functions as a form of holding house. ‘Archive’ is derived from the Greek origin of the word, Arkhē, which means ‘first place’ or a ‘house’ for documents.

The concept of an archive within an archive – comprising of unfinished work, endless digitising – catapults the archivist into a re-archiving. A sense of the forever-opening up of history when dwelling in archives opens up new perspectives on the past and offers new understandings and interpretations of the world.

The cycles of re-archiving — revisiting and re-organizing past materials to reflect new understandings, formats, or technologies manifests in the assemblages of the material remnants of my studio work .

Just as assemblages break apart and reform, the archive is never fully complete or fixed; it continually changes as new materials are added, digitized, or reinterpreted

Photos P.Coss Edward de Courcy Earth Science Museum offsite facility , University of Western Australia.