Ode to fire (gifts from ages past)

Driftwood shelf, framed antique stamps, lead votive mirror (circa 50-100 AD), fragment of clay statue (circa 5000 BC), Greek coin (circa 300 BC), candle. Inspired by research into Tarot, the series Ode to... reinterprets the four suits (wands, swords, cups and pentacles) within the deck as a series of sculptures that draw upon the elemental correspondences of the minor arcana, as well as the alchemical and magickal associations relevant to each category. Bringing together a range of materials including crystal skulls, living herbs and plants, archaeological finds, collectables and open source 3D prints, the works ruminate on the manner in which abstract knowledge is understood, shared and distributed. Through collating found objects the works evoke varying registers of presentation, most immediately the sacred or museological, but also, through the use of home furnishings, the domestic. In creating these differing readings, the arrangements act as ciphers with objects striving to engage the viewer in the process of decoding visual connections that may initially seem oblique or evasive, but perhaps with time may divulge further significance. In embracing these tangential relationships between objects and other reference materials, the works create a broader dialogue around the process of learning as organic and circuitous, as well as the conflicting possibilities of knowledge as distant and elusive, or personal and categorized.