NOW
& THEN
A
remarkable exhibition of contemporary and antique jewellery exploring
the timeless themes of power and politics, life and death, laughter
and love.
Memento
Mori
‘Not lost but gone before’ – our
response to death and loss has long been expressed through jewellery,
from the shapes and colours, to the motifs and materials. Traditionally
worn to symbolise our own mortality, the mourning of a loved one
or to record the passing of time, examples of Memento Mori jewellery
include Georgian skull rings and sparkling Forget-Me-Not lockets
and brooches. Taking their cues from such tradition, contemporary
jewellers Constanze Schreiber and Claudia Stebler have created quirky
representations not only of loss through death, but also through
the ending of a relationship, divorce or leaving behind a place
or a person - with the associated feelings of sadness, rage, relief
– even joy! Using symbols such as skulls and skeletons, cross
bones and coffins, they communicate this range of emotions through
pieces such as Stebler’s ‘Bury Your X’ brooch
and Schreiber’s ‘dead head’ brooch, delicate ‘in
memoriam’ pendant and a chain of pearls to symbolize tears
- black ones which are hollow and light, white ones which, on closer
inspection, turn out to be tiny little skulls. A lock of hair has
always symbolized romantic remembrance of a loved one, but it was
the Victorians who made its use into a highly fashionable art form,
either encasing hair in bejewelled rings and lockets or weaving
or plaiting it into whole pieces such as earrings, pendants and
crosses. Contemporary jeweller Melanie Bilenker uses up to 2,000
of her own hairs to create each one of the deceptively simple scenes
depicted in her pendants – from reading a book to taking a
bath – the minutiae of daily life is captured and treasured.
Now
& Then runs from 17th July to 28th September 2008.
Salts Mill is open weekdays from 10am – 5.30pm and weekends
10am – 6pm. For further information call 01274 599790.
