Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight is a personal assemblage - an autobiography told through bottles, boxes and collected objects.

Housed within an artist's watercolour box, the work explores family, memory and belonging. The title refers to my family unit: myself and my six children, making eight in total.

The cabinet unfolds as a spiral journey through a lifetime of memories. Small boxes hold fragments connected to my parents, brother and myself, while six large bottles represent my children. Each contains eight carefully chosen objects - tiny biographies built from treasured possessions, associations and remembered moments.

Scattered throughout the work are artefacts gathered over many years: baby bootees, cotton reels, boxes within boxes, handmade papers and collections of found objects. Together they create a map of family life, memory and attachment.

Behind a small shuttered window lie twenty-five tightly bound scrolls. Hidden from view and impossible to remove without destruction, they contain regrets, blessings, hopes and aspirations - the things we carry but do not always share.

Pieces of Eight does not follow a straight path. Like memory itself, it spirals, doubles back and reveals itself slowly through the objects it contains.

Above detail of the top right corner: showing the four wooden boxes of: 'dad' - 'the boy' - 'girly' and 'mum'. Toy shelf - I was not much more than a child myself when I started my family, my toys became their toys.

Above detail: The scroll window holds my deepest regrets, my blessings and my hopes and aspirations.

Above: This book holds a little rhyme that my dad had hanging up in his shed when from when he used to go fishing.

Above: This book is called '8 Ate' - there were eight chairs at our dining table every day - plus my mum collected homophones.

Above: The contents of the 'girly' box - each has it's own special reason for being in my box.

Above: The contents of the JRM bottle - see introduction paragraph for further explanations.

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