These works are inspired by tools and working with tools, and my ongoing interest in digging.

They relate to the quarrying industry that dominates the Portland landscape where they were commissioned for , and the way that man has physically ‘sculpted’ the Island in his quest for Portland stone.

Nowadays this mining is all done mechanically and so the piece nestles in the community allotment where people come together to work the land in a very different way. Requiring a group of people to activate them, the motions become almost performative as the participants struggle to dig and use the earth-moving sculptural tools to plant bulbs and seeds in pots to take home. 

I liked the idea of making tools which need to be operated together to create moments for bonding and being silly together, transporting us to times when working the land was a communal activity.

Im interested in the performative nature of using these and aimed to make an interactive space where the public both experience and become the artwork through interaction and physically working with my art objects.

Please get in touch if you need any gardening done or would like to hire these for an interactive bulb growing session.