Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Artist list

Bridget Catchpole, Annette Dam, Helena Johansson Lindell, Alex Kinsley Vey, Matt Lambert, Tania Larsson, Helga Mogensen, Ánne Sara Máret, Anna Rikkinen, Catherine Sheedy, Despo Sophocleous

Jewellery is one of the oldest cultural identifiers. Over 120,000 years ago, prehistoric humans engaged in 'aesthetic curiosity' (Smith 1974), adorning their bodies with shell necklaces. This human activity has endured for millennia.

Contemporary jewellery is a term widely used since the 1960s and much like contemporary art; it expands our view of society, culture, the world at large and ourselves. It differentiates itself from other craft practices because it has never been limited to one material, it can be animal, vegetable or mineral thus opening up many possibilities. Jewellery is significant for its direct associations with bodies, its ability to convey ideas at an intimate level and its movement through space and time.

Running counter to widely held ideas about what constitutes 'fine jewellery' and what represents value, these artists embrace debris and detritus; the desecrated bones of a political decision; the overlooked and undervalued; the hidden consequences; the reclaimed, restored and memorialized. Through the catalyst of contemporary jewellery, artists use materials redolent with meaning and the body as a site to confront issues of identity, social critique, and political change.
 
The curator of the exhibition, Melanie Egan, has over 35 years of experience in the field of craft and design. She is the director of Craft & Design at Harbourfront Centre: Canada’s foremost artist-in-residency devoted to ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery and design. She is a curator, organizes symposia, lectures, writes, mentors and advocates for craft & design in Canada and internationally.