Lithification takes its title from the geological process through which sediment, often composed of ancient marine organisms, is gradually compacted and transformed into limestone. Formed through accumulation, pressure and erosion, the process marks a continuous cycle in which water and stone remain interdependent.

The image for this print is derived from a three-dimensional scan of a limestone rock. Rowan translates geological data into visual surface, allowing the rock’s material history to be reconstituted as image. The scan functions as both record and transformation—a technological rendering of compressed time.

Where Splitting, Calving, Melting captures matter in flux, Lithification centres on consolidation. Layers once suspended in water are fused into solidity; fluid becomes mineral. Yet even in its hardened state, the rock bears traces of the bodies and environments that shaped it.

As in Rowan’s wider practice, the work brings together geology and technology, ephemerality and endurance. The Risograph print stabilises the scanned form while foregrounding its mediation—the journey from stone to data to layered ink.

Produced in a limited edition of 100, Lithification offers a concentrated encounter with Rowan’s ongoing investigation into time, material and transformation.

Learn more about artist Hannah Rowan