WOOLWICH SOIL
2011
Woolwich Soil is a term that refers to unperishable debris that has been dumped into the sea and washed upon shores from London to Essex and Kent throughout the 19th century.
After discovering a piece of brightly coloured porcelain on a beach in Kent, it became a rite of passage and creative endeavour to gather as many pieces of this porcelain and create a collection. There are approximately 500 pieces of ‘Woolwich soil.'
An interesting factor that unified all of the pieces was the nature of the colour rather than the colour itself. Having spent decades in the ocean, all of these pieces; despite being different colours were all of the same saturation due to the erosive effects of salt in the seawater. All of the pieces had been pastelised. The unusual relationship between these seemingly individual pieces inspired me to create a physical colour gradient depicting the gradual progression from one colour to the next unified by a natural process over time.
