On Mass...

It's been an interesting aspect of my project, trying to make my work for little or no money. Some people, like Dan below, have offered materials for free with enthusiasm for my idea and others have been more cautious about my intentions, taking a stand-offish stance and seeming almost mistrusting of me. Maybe they think I'm taking them for a ride, waltzing into their lives and attempting to charm them whilst relieving them of their materials. I suppose I had hoped that some people would see the benefit in being named on my blog as helpful people who are interested in culture and that I could help promote their business as individual traders/skilled workers.

Skilled workers are perhaps overlooked these days. We hardly think about the process of making an object/product. We might assume it's been made by a machine and therefore a functional, albeit decorative object that has had no human attention in it's production. By using disregarded objects/materials and the help of skilled workers in creating my work I hope to highlight this importance and in these complex days of consumerism ethics it's something for us to consider - the level of consumption and production we've come to accept. On the news tonight the BBC heralded the return of its Cargo container, which had gone round the world collecting products from every continent and had come into problems because the recent downturn has affected the production of consumer goods dramatically in some countries. Maybe the industrial world is beginning to slow down and we will see a new interest in unique handmade products from local trades people instead of walking along the high streets staring at mass-produced identical products.