This
pot was found while walking near Altona beach in Melbourne. The pot was
in a rubbish skip outside a house that had been restumped. As it was
lying in amongst the stumps I assumed it came from under the house and
decided to retrieve it. I subsequently took it home and put it in the
studio where it has become a contemplation piece. Through working in
Altona for a couple of years, I learnt that the area was originally
settled by Scottish immigrants. I also know that it was initially a very
poor working class area surrounded by heavy industry.
 |
| Found Pot, Altona Beach, 2007. |
So
fascinated with this pot have I become that I have been imagining its
history, for it looks as though it has had a long and needy life through
tough times vastly different from the commodity-rich world we live in
here today. So used was this pot that it literally wore out. However, unlike
today, it was not discarded but patched up and repaired many times over
with different size washers and bolts as more and more holes appeared in
it to such an extent that it transformed from a functional cooking
utility—a pot—to a pot incorporating elements of ‘makeshift’. In a
further process of discarding and rediscovery it moved—lost and
found—from functionality to ‘found object’ and I now consider it art.