Extract & Distil.

‘Extract & Distil’ is a series of sculptures to be installed in South West London. The work sits off the River Wandle, on fenders protecting the intertidal terraces within Bell Lane Creek.

The artwork was commission by Tideway for the Dormay Street site and is based on an interlocking system of aluminium modular patterns inspired by organic chemistry. The patterns are based on a reimagining of pharmaceutical chemistry patterns and incorporate visual aspects of the molecular structure of histamine (molecular formula C5H9N).

Dormay Street was the location of the first factory developed by Sir Henry Wellcome who founded a pharmaceutical company and philanthropic trust that have been at the forefront of global scientific research. By responding to the site specific history of the local area, the sculptures celebrate a unique cultural heritage connected to medical research and scientific exploration.

Research for the project originally looked at Sir Henry Wellcome’s personal archive of medical glassware. He collected over 5000 pieces of apothecary glassware used to store, boil and distil chemicals. The work looks at the legacy of the scientific breakthroughs made during his lifetime, as well as the wider scientific research of the Wellcome Foundation. Since its creation in 1936, philanthropic funding from the Wellcome Trust has led to a multitude of successful scientific developments.