Thinking Jewellery

I've been researching the connections between jewellery and identity, and have found some useful insights in a selection of published lectures from the annual Thinking Jewellery symposium, held at the Trier University of Applied Sciences in Idar-Oberstein, Germany.
  
One contributor, Professor Tilmann Habermas represented (as in re-presented) "the special importance of cherished objects for the formation of personality, and showed the enormous contribution they make to the subjective and societal construct of the self". For cherished, I read treasured, and for subjective and society construct of the self, I read identity.  I need to consider how my found object treasures not only represent identity, but become part of the identity.  This connects to a collection of care labels I made last year, in response to the Threads of Feeling exhibition at the Foundling Museum.  I have been fascinated by labels in clothing for some time, and find myself frequently returning to the format of trapping drawings or objects on one side by stitch.  Labels, and particularly found labels, definitely need exploring further.  

Linen, stitch, found object, 2010 © Vanda Campbell

Linen, stitch, found object, 2010 © Vanda Campbell

Linen, stitch, found object, 2010 © Vanda Campbell
From the Care Label Collection, 2010

Identifying Identity

In order for any work to have weight, substance, authority and relevance, it needs to communicate something other than the aesthetics of the materials.  If correctly identified, this message, I believe, can provide the foundation from which all other decisions may be made.  My recent explorations into materials and responses have been missing this, which means that in their current form, they can never be anything other than 'playing'.  It's time for the next stage in the process of making.

Identity has been hounding me for some time.  The world is full of labels - what do you do? what do you make?  who are you?  art gallery, craft gallery etc.  These labels, as I see it, seem to burden rather than provide enlightenment.  My own family history of jewellery is just one of many labels I need to understand in order to further my practice.  It would seem that identity, and particularly, personal identity, would be a good starting point.