As I consider this unprecedented year, 2020, I see my days spent secure and safe within my domestic spaces, continuing the domestic routines and rituals as the fabric of my society and community life commits to the danse macabre, whirling grimly outside my front door.

The known, usual, normal of our everyday rug was pulled out from under us, tossing us into a unstable pause, where we find ourselves along with millions of others throughout the world, incarcerated and disengaged, willingly or otherwise, from family, friends, livelihood, horror, death.

A tea set, a symbol of domestic normality and routine, celebrating the customary coming together of community around the dining table, has been thrown into disorder, frozen in a state of suspension and numbness. Waiting, we hold our breath for the time when the crockery can be reanimated and fall back to the table.  Wondering which pieces will remain intact and return unscathed to their previous position.

This installation in the form of a tea set is made from copper mesh, every element is dipped into vitreous enamel and fired until the glass melts and adheres to the metal. Each piece of the work is decorated with a variety of surface treatments – appliqued elements from found embroidered and crocheted doilies, applied photographic decals, or stitched and embellished with a variety of threads and yarns.  This tea set isn’t practical; it would hold neither liquids nor food stuffs. The edges of each piece are sharp, catching skin and clothing as they contact; the enamel thin, clinging to the metal, allowing the gaps between the woven mesh to remain as holes, giving a transparency and ethereal quality to the normally solid, functional ware. 

As we sat down to tea, life was thrown into chaos …