Tidal Ossuary, Gallery Libby Sellers
Gallery Libby Sellers presents Tidal Ossuary, new work by Julia Lohmann and Gero Grundmann based on the re-evaluation of the 19th century discarded bones discovered along the river Thames. The series is an open edition of mixed materials including polished bone, silver, resin and stainless steel.
Libby Sellers explains: ‘Julia Lohmann’s interest in design was inspired by childhood walks with her father, during which they collected abandoned objects to create small figurines of strange, imaginative creatures. This dual interest in both the natural world and overlooked items led her to investigate the contradictions inherent in our relationship to animals as sources of food and materials.
‘Tidal Ossuary’–an elegant collection of beastly origins – sees Lohmann returning to these childhood meanderings, as the bones used to make the small and covetable vessels were chance finds, discovered while walking along London’s river Thames with her partner Gero Grundmann.’
Tidal Ossuary, Gallery Libby Sellers
‘Grundmann and Lohmann’s investigations into the origins of the bones and their displacement on the banks of the Thames, suggest that they are 19th century waste that was thrown into London’s Victorian sewer system and turned out into the river. Given the Thames pathway’s proximity to London’s Smithfield meat market and the underground waterways that link the market to the river, the designers believe the bones to be by-products of the Victorian meat industry.
Tidal Ossuary, Gallery Libby Sellers
‘Their fascination with the waste lies in the resonant histories inherent in the bones and the many evocative narratives that they trigger. Once deemed as rubbish, these remnants of meals long past have survived beyond their supposed use-by-date and will now be returned to objects of use and worth. Typically for Grundmann and Lohmann this questioning of value systems – in which the overlooked and discarded are given new purpose and meaning – is paramount.’
Tidal Ossuary runs until March 04 2010 at Gallery Libby Sellers, 32 Grosvenor Crescent Mews, London SW1X 7EX
Image credits: All works are courtesy Gallery Libby Sellers, photography by Gideon Hart.
