NOW & THEN
Antique meets Contemporary

‘Dishonest Pearls’ – necklace in wood filler, synthetic pearl lustre, and silk thread

Laura Deakin

It is human nature to alter the familiar. To dismantle and re-make. To strip back and re-dress. To change structure and re-name. Adornment is also a way of re-dressing, altering and transforming a person's image, be it social or self. This play of transforming
the object that does the altering, is where my interest lies.

The reason I chose to work with pearls is because they are such a traditional jewellery form, and hold so many historical and emotional connections. I am interested in altering what we know as familiar jewellery, requiring the viewer to take a second look at an already familiar form. I like the idea that the pearl necklace has been a traditional jewellery form for so long, unchanged, and this work attempts to play with this recognition.

Biographical Details