Impermanent Collection (Summer Of Discontent)
2012  35cm x 35cm x 5cm
sculpture: wire, paper-mache, plaster and archival photographic print
shelf: recycled wood
Link to further plate sculptures

‘Archaeology is perhaps the best tool we have for looking ahead, because it provides a deep reading of the direction and momentum of our course through time: what we are, where we have come from, and therefore where we are most likely to be going.’  Excerpt from A Short History Of Progress by Ronald Wright

The collaborative artists MASLEN & MEHRA will be showing work from their new series based on 3 years research in museums across the globe. Impermanent Collection comprises a series of photo-sculptures and documented temporary installations based on historical and contemporary objects found in museums. Multiple visits to the Victoria & Albert and British Museums, London; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Archaeological Museum, the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum, Istanbul; and the Asian Museum of Civilization in Singapore have resulted in the study and documentation of particular objects. Historical, cultural, political, technological, environmental and scientific references, alongside themes of natural history, all inform this work. References which allude to a conflicted existence on earth faced by cultures today: On one hand an appreciation for the importance of the natural world for our existence and on the other an unsustainable rate of consumption. These transformed museum objects offer some disturbing thoughts about the legacy of current generations. They suggest a connection between civilizations ‘progress’ and the unsustainable structures we impose to gain it. At the same time the Impermanent Collection series imbues optimism: Imagery which celebrates diverse cultures and creativity with the hope current and future generations will learn from the past.

Link to plate sculptures