The Family Breadboard

My Mother's Breadboard was prompted by histories found in wooden objects, through marks made either intentionally or through use: this particularly through the work of women.

After my mother’s death (aged 89), I kept her breadboard.  This bears the evidence of many years of use, with overlaid cut lines showing the repeated slicing of bread. The board itself had started to crack apart where it had originally been joined during its construction.

My work often considers the female experience, whatever that may be.  The importance of this object is undeniable, but I wanted to capture its age and its embedded history: the marks incised in it and the failing construction. I also wanted to include reference to the matrilineal history: from mother to grandmother to great-grandmother; mothers to daughters through time.  My decision to use cast porcelain was made, in order, to capture this. The final piece, which, through choice, is broken, not only nods to the fragility of relationships but also to the fact that the direct line stops with me as I do not have a daughter. I have not, so far, been able to trace back beyond my great-grandmother of my maternal line: it is believed that she may have been illegitimate and brought up by a generous guardian or, alternatively was from Ireland. I will continue to research her history.

The exhibition, Treen, in which this work was shown (Aug/Sep 2025) was a project initiated by the Museum Curator in Sevenoaks. I felt it important to bring to the piece the sense of a curated archival object.  Hence the archival box which contains both object and information.