In Spite of ourselves

In Spite of Ourselves was created during the UKs third Coronavirus lockdown using offcut materials.

Building on his first two sculptures Coronavirus: Isolation and Tipping Point, In Spite of Ourselves is an exploration into the third major crisis facing society, the climate crisis. In contrast to the exacerbation of the mental health crisis by the pandemic, the climate has been given a reprieve with reduced travel and emissions. Despite this extreme events like the Australian wildfires and more recently the snow in Texas has shown how deep the crisis is and perhaps more soberingly the pandemic has shown how far we need to modify our behaviour to have a meaningful impact on the environment and reverse the damage.

The world is turned from English Walnut, using four laminations to represent the equator and the tropics, the grain swirls likened to weather systems in the atmosphere and represented in the form of an egg. Both are protectors of life, both have a resilience but also a breaking point. Natural defects and knots are used to portray the cracks that are deepening in our environment, our efforts are merely patches used to slow their progression but not to heal them.

The bomb held over a large open knot by our industrialised species asks the question of what if we continue down this path, what if we break the egg and we destroy the very thing that keeps us alive.

The crane also rotates and its arm can be moved up and down to re position the bomb above the egg.

British grown timber and mild steel offcuts

Dimensions: W 510mm | H 320mm | D 250mm