Using sand,
when I found some sand in the studio Immediately I wanted to try working with it, sand is very useful as it can be manipulated into any shape to support the pieces whilst maintaining the idea of nature as the as the participles settle, (this also links back to my undergraduate pieces considering probability and the second law of thermodynamics). The sand acts as a subtle barrier between the shelf and the pieces meaning the individual sheets of porcelain are stronger against the sand background. Sand resonates with the porcelain through process as when heated sand particles turn to glass, the porcelain has already gone through a process of vitrification in the kiln which juxtaposes the loose sand particles.
The sand also acts as a metaphor for time and erosion, therefore connecting with my inspiration from living with these cliffs that continually erode and become part of the beach.
Time,
since my undergraduate I have been interested in the concepts of time, I choose the word concepts due to reading the conflicting opinions and ideas of philosophers and scientists, often I find the Philosophy connected with art to completely contradict scientific understanding, yet through my practice I am obliged to investigate both, I find however, I tend to side with the scientific minds more so than that most philosophy, but perhaps scientists are the modern day philosophers.
For me time is about many things, it is about a moment sometimes purely the present, sometimes it becomes about being in a moment but connecting to history and the history of a landscape through finding a trace of its previous being.
I feel the shelf being raised reflects this idea of a single moment that engages with a greater time than itself, by placing the porcelain on sand I am directly introducing the concept of time into my work, the fragmented porcelain shards appear bone like which is furthered through my placement of them.
The height of the shelf is also important and I will experiment further with the height possibly raising the pieces to be more at eye level, I am interested in getting the viewer close to the fragments of porcelain, the current height makes the viewer bend to see the pieces which some people felt reflected a museum like experience with my work, I have to decide whether I wish to imply this idea of museum display, however without a case it is already once removed from the curiosity cabinet.