Whilst walking through Stoke –on –Trent I noticed that like many towns it is built on layers. However there is something different about this city. It lies on fields of ceramic, china and empty crisp packets.
We can’t get out of the mind-set, that when art is not sold it remains personal when it does get sold it becomes another part of the market.
Within the Church the beauty of the Art is in its Tradition, its stability. By comparison, in the modern day Supermarkets, Art is used as a Tool, a device to entrap those who view it. Here the pandering to the popularity of its commodities on sale is warped to suit the wants and needs of the market.
People believe by giving back the ceramic and china to its origins it will restore the…mana the spirit of things, however once clay is fired it can no longer return to clay . Which makes me question whether there is any richness left? Although the earth has given stoke a gift it’s like it’s been disposed of like a plastic bag….. like many valuable resources was Stoke raped by Capitalism? Was it conquered by monsters of a high power?
The broken pieces now no longer have a price. ‘The labourer produced not for himself but for the capital.’ (Karl Marx) V.I
Every little counts
In the dark cracks of soil, there is light, visitors are able to collect a part of Stoke-on-Trent for themselves a physical piece. It becomes someone’s yet again. These parts are free to whomever ever picks up a piece, the spirit of mana is returned to the creator of the gift rather than the surplus commodity. It is returned to the ‘self’ which is where the creativity lies that cannot be sold.
