Nkanga began working on the Steel to Rust series thirteen years after creating the needle form found in Coup d’Etat (OTN 003) at the beginning of Donald Trump’s rise to political power. She reflected on the rusting state of the world’s political, industrial, and social order. Without constant care, all materials begin to oxidize. Contrary to the order-creating apparatus in Coup d’Etat, Steel to Rust inhabits the space of entropy – a phenomenon that can be clearly seen in the rusting state of big industry in the West as factories shift production and labor to developing countries and their menacing machines begin to break down. Steel to Rust - Calibration (2018) is a woven textile work chronicling the corroding state of the world, comprised of fragments of the artist’s prior experiments with tapestry-making measured against seemingly pure copper rods. Materials are charged with power structures and histories that we cannot see, and Nkanga helps us transition our minds to look beyond their shiny surfaces to experience deeper truths, perhaps even inciting us to polish up our act.