I have been working on several pieces contemporary art jewellery in the last one year. Most of them were created for publication or exhibitions while others for shoots. I was waiting for the events/shoots to happen or work to be exhibited to write about them. Slowly, despite the Pandemic things are coming to fruition. I am happy to inform you that two of the contemporary art jewellery pieces that I created during the lockdown between April and August 2020 have been featured in the online gallery of Garland Magazine. My work titled Plastic Tears PLA earrings is one of them. I will post about the “getting ready to go to work,” the other lockdown inspired piece in another post.
I had written about Garland Magazine on the post on Urgent Adornment here. It is a unique publication that focus on object based narratives from the Indo-Pacific.
The Gift of Time of Garland Magazine
A couple of months ago, the magazine asked its readers to send in images of the new and creative work that they made during lockdown/shelter-in-place period. This was to see what availability of extra time does to creativity. They called the exhibit “The Gift of Time” in a fitting manner. Here is a snippet of the call.
“Good things take time. Quality is often at odds with the urgent demands of a modern market. Now is a time to rediscover the beauty of slowness. While the lockdown has caused immense hardship across the globe, for some it has given extra time to focus on creative pursuits. For craftspersons, it has offered time to explore new designs, develop skills and take greater care in the making.” – Kevin Murray, Managing Editor, Garland Magazine.
The Gift of time, in my opinion, is an initiative that understands the angst of artists and makers through the pandemic. Business is negligible, stores and galleries were closed and just about opening. There are no exhibitions and artisan markets in sight, atleast in India. This is such a depressing time for a maker-seller. That is why, an initiative such as this one is the need of the hour. It motivates the maker to try out a new skill or better and existing one. In my case, I tried two new materials – Quick cure Clay and 3D pen technique with black PLA filament.
Plastic Tears – Artist statement
In several cultures pearls, symbolise the tears of Gods. The earrings, “Plastic tears” represent tears of anguish, of loneliness, and self pity. When we brush tears off our face we pretend that whatever made us cry no longer bothers us. However, it lurks deep inside our heart and brain threatening our sanity and causing depression. The only way to break the vicious cycle is to cut through it.
Plastic tears is a pair of long statement earrings created using black PLA (polyactic acid) filament which is a biodegradable plastic and a 3D printing pen. the earrings are embellished with freshwater pearls and the studs are stainless. The joints are all PLA making the earrings look thorny and rigid. Yet, they are lightweight and fragile.
Story behind the making of Plastic tears PLA earrings
Reading through my artist statement you would have guessed my mood as I was making the piece due to covid. I was depressed, felt shackled, my body went rigid and I felt like crying out aloud. I wanted to create an awareness about the mental effects of the disease and hence took to jewellery making to speak on my behalf. Looking back, I was actually in a much better place then than I am now. Still, the idea of bondage and tears formed the basis of the design. I turned to PLA plastic to make it quickly.
Plastic is a material that does not disintegrate itself. We may throw away a plastic cover or a bottle removing it from our lives, but it continuous to live, in a recycle bin, on the road, clogs the pipes, chokes animals that feed on garbage and poisons the ground. Tears of anguish, of loneliness, and self pity are the same. When we brush tears off our face we pretend that whatever made us cry no longer bothers us. However, it lurks around in our heart, brain threatening our sanity and causing depression. This is the idea behind Plastic tears.
Though its called plastic, represents the ill effects on no-biodegrable plastic, PLA is infact biodegradable. This way, the Plastic Tears PLA earrings can be worn without guilt.
Photoshoot
I made the piece in July but forgot to photograph it until the last day of submission. As a consequence, I wore it myself and self-shot it. I have a lot of spots on my face, (even more so now along with dark circles) so I hate being photographed without makeup. However, this was a last minute shoot and I did not have time for hair or makeup. I put my phone camera on beauty blur mode and clicked pictures in golden hour light. It camouflaged issues so well that it could be easily used by the app guys for a before and after illustration. Uploading them to an international publication was a weird experience, seeing it displayed – weirder still. Maybe, I am attempting to be chill, as per the advice my students.
I thank Editor Kevin Murray and the editorial team at Garland for publishing my work. I hope and wish that I could write a story for them someday. Until then, do leave your comments on this piece. The gallery has an amazing range of works from jewellery to ceramics, from weaving to paintings, please do take a look at it. Find the entire gallery of The Gift of time here.
Leave a Reply