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Simon Starling demonstrates an abiding interest in ecologically sound creative practices through both his subject matter and his mode of production. The title of One Ton, II, a group of five identical handmade platinum prints, refers to the fact that one ton of ore was needed to produce the few precious ounces of platinum used to make these prints. Putting an even finer point on his critique, the prints depict the South African quarry from which the ore was extracted, and the miners whose toil on the site produced the materials from which these prints derive. Starling's work encourages us to be skeptical of the popular notion that art emerges from an insular, creative bubble, and suggests the complex networks of historical, economic, and geopolitical forces that bring artworks into existence.

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