Rust

In our series we wish to emphasise our connections with the earth.

This piece is dyed with a solution of rusty nails dissolved in vinegar.

John Ruskin has a lovely way of describing rust. He says “Iron breathes when it gets rusty. It takes the oxygen from the atmosphere as willingly as we do, though it uses it differently… The main service of this metal… is not in making knifes, and scissors, and pokers, and pans, but in making the ground we feed from.”

Rust marks a return to the earth. The steel decays. Nature endures.