Lady Brooch

Metal: Copper, Gilding metal, Silver, Brass
Height: 28mm
Width: 73mm
Length: 110mm

This brooch like ‘Sight Obstruction Project’ was inspired by the St. Kilda Community Gardens. The piece is based on a sculpture I saw in the gardens of women with no skull and empty eyes. Her eyes you could look through to her missing skull that allowed one to view the garden. The photo I took became the bass plate made of gliding metal; the earth to my piece, thus figuratively the female figure represents Mother Earth. Upon the plate grows the plant life I found around the sculpture. Moreover the plant life pushes through to the underside of the plate, becoming an image of what lies underneath the earth. Winding engravings were made on the plate to represent the random, intertwining paths of the gardens and miniature figures of various items in the gardens are included on the plate. This includes a water tap, dinosaur sculpture, well and bench and all are made of at least 3 different types of metal to represent the relatedness of all the objects. Furthermore wooden stakes found in the gardens are presented in the piece by brass wire that pushes through to the back of the plate becoming hooks for the brooch pins. A double pin brooch design was required due to the weight of the piece.