FRAGILITY
Norman Cherry
United Kingdom

During the Time of Covid, and specifically when we were all subject to periods of Lockdown, I had plenty of time to reflect on how we live and what care we take of our planet. I resolved to spend the time in isolation creating new work which would not involve buying any new precious materials, only use items I already had in the studio. One of my many “boxes of stuff” contained the fruits of several years of beachcombing and another had many years’ worth of lint saved from my tumble dryer. Here were perfect examples, I thought, of materials which have already been jettisoned and now saved along with others which would normally be consigned to rubbish or added to one of my compost bins. Thus my series of Lockdown brooches was made between 2020 and 2022. Since then I have continued occasionally to use beachcombings, lint, and other materials thought of as detritus to create new works. This necklace, Clean up our Beaches, is a recent example.

