Process

Sited at the west door of Chester Cathedral, this work raises awareness of sustainability and was made to coincide with the COP 26 conference on climate change, Glasgow, October and November 2021.

The materials and objects used are all part of larger sustainable or renewable logistical systems and materials management processes where constant use and re-use makes for efficient strategies of operation and low environmental impact. These pallets, barrels, containers, bins and bags have all been temporarily lifted out of their ‘normal’ sustainable daily existence for the purposes of this work and will return to circulation in that process at some point in the future. These things coalesce here in a particular way at a particular moment as part of our consideration of important global and environmental questions and will then disperse so as to continue what we might call, their day job.

Formally and visually the work punctuates a space. The shape of the individual objects and the overall form of the piece, in tandem with the inherent colour resonates against the larger, older form and inherent colour of the cathedral and raises questions to do with value, temporality, place purpose and understanding.

The visual language of the work speaks of logistics and the industrial, but as consumers, it is worth remembering we are all implicated in such systems and thus, by default, are implicated in a collective responsibility for the environment.

The work has been made possible with the support of:

ASH Group
CASC (Contemporary Art Space Chester)
CHEP (A Brambles Company)
Chester Cathedral
DV Containers (Wrexham)
University of Chester