I also found these photos taken by Viktor Wynd ( Viktor has given me permission to use them)on his recent travels in Africa interesting

They are proof that the sacrifice and libations to ancestors is still carried out in today’s world and that progress has not placed these rituals in the past

Apologies for the quality of these video clips from the Documentary the Tribal Eye by David Attenborough.

These clips have interested me from the first time I saw them. The element of the sacrifice within the Dogon Tribe has parallels with he element of sacrifice within the texts of my own religion.

But in the Dogon’s case the sacrifice and coat the statues of ancestors in blood and millet, these sculptures over time start to loose there shape and form due to the build up of dry libation offerings.

I find that I have these concepts and ideas in mind when I’m currently making my ceramic sculptures. Not only am I interested in the balance of the stones or the textures I have created in the clay but I am also interested in the random drips of clay slip that I add to the surface. These drips add an extra dimension a dimension of something else this idea of past, present and future civilisation, of trying to connect with something else completely

Part of the language or is it artefacts of a civilisation from the past, present or even the future?

Yesterday (13.10.20) I had my first tutorial for my new module with David Hancock, for some reason I had built this meeting up in my head to that of worrying about it.

I really did not feel prepared for it mentally as I many ways whatI am trying to achieve with my art practice is still in its formative stages. What ensued was a friendly discussion in which many possibilities were discussed and I came away feeling more positive about what I am doing.

Some of the main points that were brought up were

What has the MA given me so far?

A space to play and explore new ideas, a time to work through ideas other than ones for an exhibition in other words a time to indulge my creative whims.

The Urban Organic

The creation of objects that relate to our urban environment through the materials used in their production.

Do these objects/ sculptures hold an air of mysticism whether conscious or sub consciously?

Now I have to build a conceptual framework around what I have got.

Could part of the work be the placing of the sculptures into people’s homes / living space and thus the object gets elevated to that of the guardian of the home?

The people chosen for this would live with the sculpture for a period of time, objects pertinent to the caretaker of the sculpture will also be incorporated in to this curated piece, I as the artist will place the sculpture in the environment and ultimately decide where it should be placed, weather on a table or a shelf half way up a wall.

Can a dialogue be built between the piece and the audience? And how to build a dialogue?

What is my role within all this or do the objects eventually gain a life / history of their own once I Detach from them?

How will this all be documented.

In some ways I have created my own folk culture and developed my own visual language the language of Jeff

This all has references to folk culture but it is not the primary focus of the work

Primitive, current and futuristic and yet they also fit out of time

Artefacts from our current time discovered in the future

In the end what can be seen is a collection of musings and questions, hopefully over the next few months these will all be answered through practical and academic research