This project started with me trying to re-engage myself with the new environment I’m living in, moving from a small town called Tillicoultry to Glasgow. To do this I scavenged the backstreets of Sauchie hall looking for miscellaneous objects that naturally caught my interest. After gathering a fair inventory of objects, I started to analyse each one and ask myself why I was drawn to it. The slate I found had the biggest impact as I realised It linked to a vivid childhood memory.
In this memory, me and my friends would collect the fallen slate from beside the church we used to play next to. The reason for collecting these is because one of our grandads told us when he was younger, he would get asked to steal the slate from the roofs as they used to be made from led and could be sold for a reasonable amount of money. As a child finding all these shards of slate, we thought it was treasure and would collect loads of it thinking we were making money.
Finding a material in Glasgow that held such a strong memory of back home for me, gave me such a warm feeling of comfort whilst being very anxious about my new surroundings. Breaking the slate into more malleable shapes made it possible for me to create this vessel that holds such a positive bright memory. After creating the first piece I liked the idea of being able to wear the vessel as I felt it hid a lot of my identity whilst being made from something that was nostalgic and meaningful to me as a person.