Foundling #3 (Australia)

When my father passed away quite suddenly, it fell to us to clean out the family home. In his garage/workroom, I discovered an old metal ice cream tin covered in hessian, with small scraps of fabric still clinging to its surface. It’s the oldest thing I’ve ever made that still exists-something I created for him when I was four years old. Over the decades, it has rusted, lost most of its decorations, and been repurposed to hold glue, nails, string-whatever he needed to fix things around the house. My father collected things that might be useful one day, and in the same way he passed that to me- I make use of things that others might view as rubbish. I get joy from seeing the possibilities, deconstructing and repairing broken objects and creating something new. My whole practice revolves around this process.For me, this original piece represents an enduring connection with my father. At its core is a discarded tin- dented, scarred, and stripped of most of its original ornamentation; its aesthetic value faded, but its sentimental weight remaining. In many ways, it is a metaphor for a child who is loved, protected and treasured in their youth, but not needing as much care as time progresses. The fact that Dad kept the tin for all those years, first in his wardrobe, and then amidst the workroom jumble of wire, wood, washers and paint brings me great comfort. It’s both a memory and a quiet reminder of his love. And I love that it is visibly honest, unapologetically flawed, much like our relationship.I couldn’t bring myself to alter or repair the original tin, so I created something new in response, using materials salvaged from Dad’s workroom, along with other “treasures” from my world that remind me of him. The new work is also a vessel created from recycled materials, incorporating wood offcuts, wire, fibre, and paint all rescued from his workroom accumulations which he felt might be useful one day. As expected, my later work is more sophisticated than my pre-school effort, but curiously it also integrates textiles and metal, and the industrial and the natural. It speaks to the way I am slowly repairing and piecing myself back together after grief and loss, drawing strength from the joy of creativity and – Paper mache, recycled/found materials and stitched coiled basket-roof insulation, flax, wire, wood, raffia, paint, cotton.Assemblage