Fairy Tales is a series of works reflecting on mass over-consumption and the blind faith humanity holds that, just like in fairy tales, it will all turn out all right in the end. Inspired by an antique shoe last, the works ponder why we so rarely choose to mend things in Western society, preferring instead to waste resources in pursuit of always having the latest thing.
Goldilocks
Goldilocks 2023. Materials: reclaimed charity shop teddy bears, papier mache and steel rods, approx. 1 m x 1 m
Inspired by artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Mike Kelley mikekelleyfoundation.org , Sarah Lucas sarahlucas.com and Rachel Darbourne racheldarbourne.co.uk , this piece explores the volume of waste created and resources consumed on our very special Goldilocks planet - the only known planet in the universe positioned just right to sustain life.
Struck by the similarity between the bears' paws and the shoe last, I created a trio of feet, ‘the three bears’, which form a satellite around a paper globe depicting the fragility of our world. The shape this creates is reminiscent of both viruses and bombs - two things humanity itself has fashioned in our seemingly endless quest to drain every last resource from our home.
Designed to hang as a mobile, the piece reflects humanity's skewed priorities - the shock of the butchered teddies is a deliberate contrast to the passiveness with which we go about our everyday lives, largely indifferent to the actual animals killed for their fur. Our wastefulness and overconsumption sit in stark contrast to the extraordinary rarity of the world we inhabit.
Goldilocks II 2023, designed by Claire Jones, implemented by Ian Hankey and Jess
Cinderella
Cinderella 2023. Materials: reclaimed glass decanters, gold sand, reclaimed wood, approx. 50 cm x 20 cm
Following the theme of overconsumption, this piece explores sand depletion. Sand takes millions of years to form, yet most of us never give it a second thought. Encountering the work of Sim Chi Yin chiyinsim.com at the RE/Sisters exhibition at the Barbican barbican.org brought the true scale of the issue into sharp focus, most devastatingly felt across Asia.
That sand is a major component of glass makes this piece all the more poignant — the empty decanters, ordinarily discarded after use, are here given new purpose. The hourglass is filled with golden sand to represent its true value, and set to 90 seconds: the time currently remaining on the Doomsday Clock.
P.O.A.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Elves and the Shoemaker 2023: residual slip and re-purposed steel, approx. 140 m x 70 cm
Skeuomorph slip cast shoe lasts perform the never-ending tread of our metaphorical footprint on the planet. This piece references fast fashion and our preference to discard rather than repair - unlike the elves and the shoemaker, who used every last scrap to make a single pair of shoes.
Each of the seven feet represents one of the seven R's:
Respect - the planet and each other
Refuse - single use items
Reduce - the amount we buy and the resources we consume
Reuse - everything, and resist the pull of the latest thing
Repair - before reaching for something new
Recycle - some precious resources, like aluminium, can be recycled indefinitely
Repurpose - ask yourself, what else could this be? - Something I practice often in my work.
P.O.A.
