James Beckett’s practice explores overlooked histories concerned with industrial development and the built environment. With a focus on the physicality of historically-laden objects, his works deal with cultural signs that shape our experience in the modern era. The approach considers proximity in the experience of subjects through tertiary bodies, and the implications of their given traces. Beckett activates objects in order to unpack their abstract and metaphysical potential, often employing the absurd and uncanny to form new perspectives on formative events.