Succession
Succession
A coffin, lifesize and made of rough wood, laid out on legs like a body at a wake. Inside it, a lintel has split in two. “We the people” is cut into the stone, and the break runs right through it. Around it lie the other small casualties: gravestones for the things that were meant to last, and a stained glass window in pieces inside its broken ceramic frame. The state and the church have both come down. Paving slabs have cracked open, and seedlings push up through the splits. Autumn leaves in ochre, orange and green lie scattered between them, with glass flowers in red, white and yellow. The seedlings are fragile and the stone is heavy, yet the stone is the one that has given way. Nature doesn’t ask permission to take its place.
The lintel, gravestones, paving slabs, window frame and seedlings are modelled and fired in ceramic. The leaves are a mixture of ceramic and glass, the flowers are glass, and the window is stained glass. The glass catches the light against the matt, weathered clay. The whole installation is presented in a rustic wooden coffin.
Details: Mixed media installation in ceramic and glass, presented in a handmade wooden coffin. Not for sale.