Relic is a twenty-first century re-enactment of a pyroclastic blast. Behind glass, at the centre of the rectangular portable reliquary, rests a carbonised Subway ‘Italian B.M.T.’ Sub, preserved potentially for thousands of years by virtue of the carbonisation method. The column of cans is indicative of calibrations in time, akin to The Column of Trajan in Rome. The (C) and (R) symbols assert the language of commerce, which sits awkwardly with the catastrophic combustion of the sandwich.
One of the most astounding artefacts discovered at the site of ancient Pompeii is a batch of loaves, carbonised by a combination of pyroclastic blast and oxygen-starving ash deposit. The remains of Pompeiians found seeking sanctuary from the ravages of the Vesuvian blast on August 24th 79CE evoke an immediate sense of empathy. But it is the perfectly preserved items of daily life that engender a tangible sense of their lives and conscious being.
Hazel sticks, paint, jute rope, copper leaf 2021
BE is a work commissioned by Hospital Rooms for Northside House, a Forensic Mental Health Unit located in Norwich UK. Other artists involved in the project: Dexter Dalwood, Naomi Harwin, Jade Montserrat, Cara Nahaul, Richard Wentworth
Acrylic on canvas 70cm x 100cm 2019
Acrylic paint on canvas 50cm x 50cm 2019
Acrylic on paper 40cm x 50cm 2019
Barrier: After Christiane Baumgartner Framed woodcut and aluminium signs, 2019
Screen-print 50cm x 70cm 2019