Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for learning (John Locke, 1693)
A site specific installation at Newington Gallery as part of a group exhibition entitled, Curiosity.
Newington Gallery was formerly a library and at the time of the exhibition still contained the library shelves. My piece is a comment on the closures of libraries and the effect they will have on communities. People will still be curious, particularly the young, but without access to libraries will their curiosity be fully satisfied?
It is a projection of library shelves with a wooden library ladder.
Log Cairn, New Cross Gate Cutting
New Cross Gate Cutting is one of the remaining areas of The Great North Wood that once covered land from Deptford to Selhurst. During the Middle Ages it was managed for timber, charcoal, tannin and firewood. The cutting was dug in 1838-39 and still bears the legacy of the Croydon Canal, railway and brickworks for local housing development.
Log Cairn is a memorial to the history of the site and it’s workers. It is made from terracotta clay slip casts of oak branches sourced from the Great North Wood. The inside of the cairn is filled with leaf litter, moss and other organic material to encourage growth of an ecosystem, as part of the sculpture. The casts are fired but not treated, aiding weathering and erosion and providing a safe environment for the development of the ecosystem.
It measures 1m (h) x 1m (d at base).