While working in Japan some years ago I visited the Haiku Museum in Tokyo. I have always loved short poetry, where only what is essential is there. It is a very similar process to my own, removing the words or parts of metal until everything which remains is essential. I was unexpectedly moved by the experience of sitting in a small room surrounded by Haiku scrolls, beautiful paintings and calligraphy but in a language I couldn’t read. It seemed like the intensity of the words and paintings collectively created an overwhelming emotional experience which I have never forgotten.
I decided to collect some Haiku poetry and create a sculpture full of words. This led to a unique and wonderful collaboration with nineteen poets brought together at Moniack Mhor writers centre under the guidance of Jen Hadfield. It has been a pleasure to turn the words of these poets into steel, making all of the nine hundred letters by hand and shaping them together into a sphere.
WORDS FROM MONIACK MHOR POETS
Caterpillar works unseen. Leaf becomes gossamer.
Soft life flows beneath
this brutally delicate
exoskeleton