SONG OF THE WORLD 2016-ongoing series

The Nail

Human invention is defined by the intrinsic conflict––and confluence––of destruction and creation. Historically, perhaps no object better encapsulates this technological paradox than the nail. Since at least 3400 B.C.E., humanity has utilized the nail to build and to destroy, to repair and to wound. Designed to be both essential and imperceptible, the nail is the invisible, ubiquitous device by which bridges, couches, coffins, towers, homes, hospitals, ladders, libraries, electric chairs, violins, train tracks, weight racks, writing desks, horseshoes, mule shoes, war planes, children’s toys, and crucifixions and blankets are made possible. They are the devices by which paintings are hung. They are an interstitial artifact designed for connection, and for over 5,000 years, they’ve been an evolutionary marker of human civilization.

The earliest nails, hand-wrought from iron, were fraught with imperfection and individuation, indelible flaws of human craftsmanship. By the first century C.E., their use was so extensive that, upon abandoning the fort of Inchtuthil, the Roman Empire discarded nearly 900,000––more than seven tons of nails. In the third and fourth centuries, ‘magical’ Roman nails were hand-forged from bronze and etched with sacred symbols and inscriptions, intended to protect shrines and households. Alternately disposable and divine, nails connected individuals through commerce in Medieval England, where they served as a stable currency; the word ‘penny’ derives from the standard price for a hundred nails. In subsequent centuries, spurred by the Industrial Revolution, the nail has been transformed by automation, mass production, and uniformity.

To chart the history of the nail is to map the course of human civilization. However, this is not strictly an anthropocentric history. In their inception, nails are materially derived from the natural world. In their application, they are used to redefine it. This tension between nature and industry––with humanity at the center––is emblemized in every phase of a nail’s existence, from its sourcing and production to its usage and eventual deterioration. The nail is both an elemental extension of nature and a device by which it is subjugated and transformed. In this sense, the nail functions not merely as an indicator of human technologies, histories, and ideals, but as a broader icon of evolution and invention. Arguably, the nail is to human civilization what the atom is to the human: an integral element of both creative and destructive potential. Omnipresent and ignored. Invisible and invaluable.

-Fawn Rogers