FIREHOUSE
White earthenware, blue dye, nails
6*6*2- 12*12*3cm, 100 total, outdoor installation
Mojacar, Spain | 2010
There had been a fire that burnt across the landscape several years ago and caused much damage, and in the years following they had experienced increasing local droughts. The area had a striking contrast of the hot, dry, bare Andalusian ochre landscape, against the clear piercing blue sky. Seemingly barron but actually upon closer inspection dotted with many different shape sized and brightly coloured flowers. I was struck by the living world's way to bubble through the ashes to continue the cycle of rebirth, evolution and change. I found a derelict house without a roof on the way into town, that had been abandoned after the fire, with old circular shaped cans, jars and lids left in the ruins of the building. After making plaster casts of these shapes I first lined them with the local flowers I had collected and then press mould local earthenware ontop. The organic matter burned away during the firing and then I painted the discs with indigo blue ink to compliment and contrast with the earthy walls, as the landscape around does with the sky. I installed the pieces onto the walls of the building suggestive of scaled-up single celled organisms or bacteria. The installation remained in place for several months and passers-by could take the individual discs if they wished.