SHADOW TOOLS FROM A LATENT CULTURE

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(Shadow) Tools from a Latent Culture 

A collaborative body of work by Rachel Ashcroft and Frances Ross.

It comprises an unsettling collection of paraphernalia. Delicate porcelain apparatus with rune like symbols etched into the surface contrasts yet connects to the blackened ash forms flowing effortlessly from the instrument to the hand. 

Elements of contemporary and bygone culture are suggested in the forms of each individual piece, hinting at common characteristics in tools and objects used for a wide range of applications – agriculture, construction, beauty routines, health and craft. 

Yet the ambiguous anthropology of the artefacts seizes us and transports the viewer to an uncharted realm of mysticism and a deeper, darker place of unknown worship. Are the pieces proposing ritualistic folklore, or are they perhaps a comment on contemporary maker culture? Either way, the viewer is invited to enter into the work and develop their own narrative.