Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Gayle Chong Kwan, Journey to The Centre of the Earth, Art on the Underground, London, 2007

In 2007, Art on the Underground/Platform for Art commissioned Chong Kwan to develop a number of works throughout different sites on the Underground. Chong Kwan’s ‘Cockaigne’ series was first exhibited as billboards around Southwark Underground station. She then started to develop ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’.

Taking its title from Jules Verne’s eponymous novel that illustrates an extraordinary underground world and refers to bodily digestion and the cooking of the earth, Chong Kwan’s project wove together ideas of escapism, imaginary subterranean travel and sensory worlds with the capital’s gastronomic heritage. She developed a series of interrelated works, through conversations with London Underground employees, Borough Market traders and catering students. ‘Core’ was a wrap around photographic installation in one of the largest tunnels in the Underground, at London Bridge station, while ‘Intra’ is sited at the entrance to the station facing outwards to the entrance of Borough Market, and ‘Hollow Earth’, is a billboard wrapping-around Southwark Underground station.

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