THE PROJECT
Environmental sculpture
Chaucer Group were looking for a way to demonstrate the company’s commitment to sustainability through art. In response, The Art Movement developed a rotating programme of environmental artworks, curated to highlight environmental issues and celebrate sustainable artwork.
The first exhibition to be installed at Chaucer Group’s London HQ was a sculpture installation of an artwork titled, Sea Kelp, by the artist Camilla Brendon. Creating artworks out of found and donated objects, such as washed-up commercial fishing gear and single use packaging, this piece is constructed of one hundred percent recycled and salvaged materials.
The piece represents sea kelp, a large algae that forms forests in shallow waters, whilst playing the important role of producing oxygen, storing carbon, providing breeding grounds for countless species and being used to make food and important medicines.
Read our interview with Camilla Brendon HERE.
The second exhibition to be installed at Chaucher’s HQ, was Throwing Bones by Henrietta Armstrong.
Henrietta Armstrong is a multimedia artist based in London, specialising in sculpture, installation and public art. She looks at man-made objects and structures from everyday technologies that are often obsolete or defunct, and the symbolism or meaning that we imbue them with. Protection and defence are recurring themes in Armstrong’s work, as well as exploring the origins of mythologies and societal narratives. Her recent work has been looking at the brutalist forms of sea defences, sea erosion and the global threat of rising sea levels due to global warming.
Throwing Bones is an installation of 50 forms inspired by the Dolos sea defence, cast out of plaster and arranged in a random interlocking mass that responds to its surroundings. The name Dolos is derived from the Afrikaans word for the ox knuckle-joint bones used in divination practices by Sangomas, South African healers. Also the bones used by African children to play the ancient game of Knucklebones. Crystacal R plaster which is known for its pure white colour, was used to enhance the Dolos bone like appearance. The Dolosse, piled up on top of each other look like giant playing pieces from an ancient game or bones that have been scattered for the purposes of divination. The white of the Dolosse forms catch the varying natural light at all times of day changing the work as the daylight changes. Armstrong’s intention is for the sculpture to be a playful yet beautiful reminder of climate change and the purpose of these forms and what our future will be like if we don’t take action now to prevent it.
