Loom Love

Weave

Just finished the weave block and I have really enjoyed it, although the first day was hard, learning to use the loom and the patterns and how the blocks work, it has been really good fun and I'm quite proud of what I've made. I even managed to design some of the weaves myself which was very time consuming, but worth it. Hopefully if I choose it, it'll be easier on the mechanic looms than the hand ones, my arms are hurting!

Collecting thiings, collecting people Exhibit

I really enjoyed the visit to the South African Gallery at the British museum and found Clare Rose to bevery interesting and offer more insight into artefacts which I usually wouldn't look at. In the museum it was interesting to see how the African artefacts were displayed. Africa has long been considered a secondary nation, with an uncultured and uncivilised population due to their lack of industrialisation during the industrialisation of Europe. This led to the British taking over African and Indian nations during the 1850's as they felt they they were the superior race and the native people were less evolved and primitive in comparison. As this view still prevails to a certain extent many of the artefacts were displayed out of their natural context and made into more modern displays.

This display is a selection of tablets from the Nigerian colony of Benin, even though the tablets are carved with warrior figures and were origina

lly on display in the royal palace of Benin, the tablets displayed in a grid like structure, backlit with bright white light, it puts them in a new context so they l

ook more like a work of art then the work of a 'primitive and warrior nation'.

A display such as this of ivory figurines is more traditional and as the objects are displayed in the cabinet, behind glass, they look more like artefacts. As a result they are depicted as objects which have been collected from the African nations and brought back because they resemble some aspect of the African culture. As these ivory carvings display men with spears, when looked at the view the Africans are native and fighters is reinforced and the beautiful and intricate carving becomes secondary.

I thought the Living and Dying exhibition was very interesting, offering views on different peoples attitudes towards sickness and using medication for well being. The piece by Pharmacopeia "cradle to grave' was the story of a mans life in objects and medication. There are photos, birth records, school reports, food,

objects and most importantly all the medication he had had to take, such as injections for diabetes, an inhaler and drugs given during the mans times in hospital . The objects were lined up against a long line of pills which represent all the painkillers and other drugs the man had taken throughout his life and shown in such a long line along with the objects it was quite revealing how dependant we are on drugs to help and basically save our lives.

To symbolise how I think about life today I would possibly choose objects which represent our culture today, such as a laptop, ipod, Blackberry phone or a page from Facebook. I think the age of consumerism is also important so I may choose objects from Primark, endless shopping carrier bags, or maybe food items such as MacDonald's wrappers to represent the fast food generation. This is very different to how my Grandparents would have symbolised life as they may have used objects like ration books, spades and gardening equipment and washing equipment as they were growing up in war torn Britain and had much harder lives. The objects would probably be more personal as they would have been passed on through generations, and not part of the use it once and throw it away generation we live in.