Reliquaries
These reliquaries are part of an ongoing project, with no time frame in mind. The only thing that dictates them is the size of the object selected for inclusion. Each reliquary can be a standalone piece but is also part of a bigger picture.
I started making the reliquaries in 2011. I made my first one after discovering a medal and from the Crimean War in a skip. I felt I needed to honour the brave soldier who had earned this mark of respect. I made a simple cross and tied that medal band to it, then placed it into my very first handmade container. The idea of repeating the same form was inspired by an exhibition of the work of artist and writer Edmund de Waal, whose delicate porcelain pots were all of a similar proportion. They were beautifully spaced and had a mesmerising quietness and stillness to them. While my reliquaries are very different from his vessels, I like the notion that they can be spaces uniformly and each can tell its own story or be part of a broader narrative. Some people have interpreted them as cages but I see them as a means of preservation, not imprisonment.