Bones of the Fathers
Watercolour on paper, 3D printed mechanisms, plaster of Paris, powdered pigment, gouache, reclaimed wood
In collaboration with Justin Ramsden
What do you step on to move forward? What will you leave behind when you’re gone?
We walk forward only by treading on what came before. Beneath our feet lie the bones of those who carried us this far, their labour, their mistakes, their silence. Time does not preserve them; it erodes them, grinding memory into the substance that supports us. Even as they fracture, their weight endures.
To look ahead, the viewer must first crush what remains of the past. The plaster skulls underfoot break with each step, their sound echoing the quiet violence of progress. Above, within a worn, two-toned hooded mechanism, eight small watercolours revolve, a mechanical meditation on the life of a dandelion, from bloom to drift to disappearance.
The work is not about death, but continuity, the uneasy inheritance of what has been broken to make room for what comes next. Each step toward the future presses down on what was once living. The dust that rises is what connects us still.
NOTE
During installation and early viewings, a hesitation emerged.
Some viewers approached the work slowly, stopping at the edge of the box, negotiating the act before committing to it. The first step was often tentative, placed with care, as though the material might resist or object. The sound of the initial fracture was enough, in some cases, to halt further movement.
Others did not hesitate. They stepped directly onto the surface, testing weight, then pressing harder. The breaking became part of the interaction, repeated, explored. In a few instances, the act shifted from requirement to engagement, the sound and sensation of collapse prompting additional steps beyond what was necessary to see the work.
The mechanism does not change. The skulls respond uniformly to pressure.
The variation occurs in the participant.
The piece reveals not only a physical threshold, but a psychological one, the point at which the viewer decides what is acceptable to break in order to proceed.
