The Association for Contemporary Jewellery is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and as part of this it is holding a major touring exhibition of brooches. The exhibition, Meanings & Messages, showcases the work of 60 selected members including me! This is my brooch, front and back:
Built on Sand (Formica, wood, oxidised white precious metal, white precious metal, stainless steel)
Home: essential for everyone but often relentlessly precarious in its accessibility and stability.
The fringe is made from wire that has been textured with sandpaper, its movement representing unsteady foundations - atop sits a significant bulk.
The bulk, sanded back laminate with inlaid silver, the home itself: a place of shelter, warmth, comfort and safety.
The foundations, a comment on insidious policies, greed, the uncertainty, stress and devastation of escalating rents and prices, cladding, flooding, fire, subsidence, compulsory purchase orders, deteriorating health and rising costs of living. Loss, sadness, anger, resentment, despair, conflict. Overwhelming, alienating, destabilising, polarising.
I didn't take that many work in progress photos. I had quite a clear idea of what I wanted to make before I started so it was only small compositional decisions I made as I was making.
The exhibition tours to:
- St Georges Arts Centre - Gravesend - in partnership with LV21 – 30 April – 29 May 2022
- Exeter University – Conference Pop Up exhibition - 1 - 3 July 2022
- Vittoria Street Gallery – Birmingham School of Jewellery – 19 September – 28 October 2022
- Mission Gallery in partnership with Swansea College of Art UWTSD – 16 November – 21 December 2022
- The Goldsmiths' Centre - 9 January – 24 February 2023
- New Brewery Arts – 4 April – 18 June 2023
