Permanent Blow
This suspended sculpture was a site-responsive installation commissioned for the chancel of St John’s Church Scunthorpe in the north of the UK. The idea for this site-specific artwork comes from the traditional function of a church – to save souls. The wide shallow open spherical shape is made from woven steel cable and aluminium.
Various particles have fallen inside or been attached to its interior – human hair, cherry stones, pieces of steel used in making saucepan scourers, and maybe some bits of detritus thrown in by visitors. Some of the things cling on, some collect inside and some fall through to the floor below. Local materials have been included: the cherry stones are the residue from cherries that were first eaten by birds and left in piles on the church roof.
The swarfe used in the making of saucepan scourers was originally made by the Corus Steel Mills that were nearby. I am interested in the residues of meaning that may still be attached to things we would normally throw away, and the way these things may interact in a new context.
