The Colour of Change
Industrialisation was the catalyst for the current state of our planet. The decision to use fossil fuels to power progress has become unsustainable and life-threatening in contemporary times. While science is shouting at us, we continue to cling on to our ways of life as a right.
The starting point for this group of work will look at decoration, function and form from the significant dates of the major influencers of our current situation.
Exhibition statement
Within a century our planet was transformed on a massive scale by industrialisation. Science is clear, but we continue to cling on to our ways of life.
In today’s climate we are starting to see changes to industries, our values and our way of life in response to global crises.
My mourning jewellery shows 20 year snapshots of climatic change on our way to the slow destruction of our planet, starting from 1900. Titled The colour of change, it is a graphic representation of a globally complex issue charting temperature change over 120 years in the Pacific.
Starting point
The brooches in this series follow on from my work about climate change at Te Uru in December 2019. As the textile industry was one of the first to be mechanised, it seems appropriate to reference it in the brooches by using the grid of weaving.
The Spinning Jenny, invented by Englishman James Hargreaves
Trials using textile patterns
Manchester in England became the hub of manufacturing textiles. The concept of factories saw cottage industries disappear almost overnight. The machines were so successful they replaced thousands of workers. They can also boast dividing populations into mill owners and the workers. The owners driven by profit, and the workers on poor pay, long working hours, and unhealthy working conditions.
The Industrial Revolution was a major turning point in our history. Human activities, particularly those using fossil fuels, have raised carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide levels in the atmosphere, which has caused the ‘greenhouse effect’, like a blanket wrapped around the planet trapping in the heat from earth, thus forcing climate change.