Slingshot & Rifle
Made: 2012
Shown: National Trust Nymans House and Gardens - Haywards Heath
Contemporary Applied Art Gallery - London
I was chosen to exhibit two sculptural interventions for National Trust Nymans House and Gardens property in West Sussex. I as well as ten other artists reacted to the building and its history within a show called Unravelling Nymans.
My work there focused on the stories related to the evacuated children based at the house during the Second World War.
'Slingshot' and 'Rifle' were made as an imagining to how the evacuees may have spent their time there. The pieces are made as toys. Made to be played with, to have fun and to make mischief.
Subverting and highlighting via their placement, 'Slingshot' is strategically placed in the arms of a garden cherub, transforming the innocent into impish.
Rifle was placed at the exit of the stately home to highlight that the children evacuated to Nyman's were nearly of age to fight in the war they were escaping. P.Clover was one such child whom later became part of the armed forces.
I made 'Rifle' and 'Slingshot' by first drawing the piece and then carving lime wood based on that drawing, the shape evolving like a childlike game of Broken Telephone. 'Slingshot' and 'Rifle' are also dyed to match the school uniform in which the evacuees arrived.
