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SHERDS

Sherds: broken pieces of ceramic material, especially those found on archaeological sites.

In the winter of 2013/14 the River Teme flooded and changed course, leaving two wide loops stranded. The water cut through the ground and unearthed many sherds of pottery. These sherds were not new to the force of the water; they were already pitted and crazed, worn down and rounded. They must have been deposited many years before in the river’s long-lost meanders across the flood meadow.

As the water receded it left a ravaged expanse of shale, pebbles, sticks and stones that were dotted with broken pieces of pottery. Sherds allows the pieces of pottery to speak as unique and individual remnants of vessels that have been made, used, broken and discarded by people through the centuries.

It appreciates our ability to fall apart and rebuild; celebrates the inevitable weaknesses and fractures. Water collected from the new stretch of river temporarily binds the sherds together in a new vessel that holds the effort of personal reinvention. The time-lapse film reveals hidden details in this process of waxing and waning that we are unable to see when immersed in the struggles of daily life.

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