This series is definitely the most personal work I have ever made. Basically, all my emotions (LOVE, disbelieve, sadness, longings, brokenness, helplessness, jealousy, anger, forgiveness, acceptance and adaptation) are stored in those pieces. Last year we have lost our baby Leo at 20 weeks pregnancy due to a severe abnormality in his brain. We have experienced what we thought, happens only to the other people. Our world collapsed. No matter how one is practical and logical about it, one gets destroyed.
All design decisions made for this mourning series were driven by my feelings. These lockets are containers to contain one’s feelings or any artefacts saved from the deceased person they are grieving. It could be a photograph, poem, personal note, hair or ashes. The 100% silk cord that lockets are suspended from has been hand dyed in colour red and blue colour, expressing umbilical cord. Etching on the exterior of the lockets are passages from my diary that I have written after we lost Leo. It is about my feelings and thoughts about the finding of the bad news, the birth-giving and grieving. The text is written in a secret language that I have developed to be understood just by me and Leo.
The processes to make these lockets were straightforward. I used a hydraulic press to achieve the form. Nitric acid was used to etch the text and liver of sulphur gel to patinate. My friend Jo Piper has kindly done etching for me as I was pregnant at the time with my second baby Nalu and couldn’t risk exposure to such strong chemicals. Materials used were sterling silver, copper and 100% hand dyed silk.
Process of making
