Currently, in the studio I am working on a new collection which relates to the North Devon coast, to the history of the port of Bideford, and to ideas around othering and exclusion and its opposite, to inclusion.  I have been researching the history of the  last witch tria that resulted in hangingl, of colonial trade and links with slavery and the tobacco industry as well as the pigments which can be found in the earth here.  I have been exploring ideas around "othering" and humanity, both because it is very much part of the current public narrative and because it was important in the trial, in the practice of deporting people and trafficking slaves, and the development of the development of the laws around slavery.  

The  narrative of difference that is used to  justify the deportation of asylum seekers is frighteningly current.

Sources of pigments at the beach

Processing pigments from earth

clean large stones out of the muddy clay, wash out the organic matter and scoop off the surface, sieve out the stones and sand, dry out the clay, to change from yellow ochre to red or brown add heat, to change from raw umber to burnt umber add heat, grind to a powder and sieve through a fine mesh sieve. rock ochres umbers, mud rock and bideford black, and carbon blacks can simply be bashed up then seived.

Sources of information
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