disPLACEMENT I
Statement Necklace I (2022), merges personal family histories of displacement and journey, with that of wider migrant issues both human and material. Politics, state-controlled boarders and notions of ‘climate colonialism’. True to size, aluminium pinecones have been cast and connected as a historic symbol of human strength during the suffering in WW2. This work also merging the histories of her maternal and paternal grandparents through symbolism and sourcing. Formed as an overly large necklace it counters the perception of aluminium’s material weight. The cones, displaced from the tree, no longer rest on the ground but are free to move, not only as worn adornment, but also in their tied cold connection fastening, the making and design responding to aluminium’s material nuisances ( its protective outer shell of oxide challenging hot solder). Fixed, yet with the ability to be freed at any time, also applies to the open link chain. The rough snipped and entwined gold wire used challenges perceived value and provides a reference to a time when aluminium was valued more than gold.
““I remember we would go to pick up pinecones for heating in the nearby pine forest, which ended just where the potato field belonging to the kolkhoz began. We would gather some pinecones into our sack, then mother would stray into the potato patch and, while I sat on a tree branch as a lookout, fill the middle of the sack with potatoes. We would then fill the upper third of the sack with pinecones””
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I was twelve-and-a-half-years old, and determined to survive, no matter what. There were many pine trees, so I tried to eat pine buds and sucked on the branches; this seemed to satisfy my hunger. Hunger is the most terrible thing.”
