Hand Earth Gesture Return

Hand Earth Gesture Return: artists pulling heavy clay through a sculptural structure, whilst Indian drummers play in the background.

As the production and origins of goods become increasingly complex and remote, this programme addressed a wish to return to our roots and participate in the making of things. Hand Earth Gesture Return was made from earth, straw and water – natural, locally grown, sourced and sustainable materials. It was designed, and made for, and with, communities in Coventry and Warwickshire.

The materials were brought to different community groups to be handled, modelled and manipulated. They worked alongside collaborating artists – Rachael Champion, Dolon Kundu, Amy & Oliver Thomas-Irvine and Jim Woodall – based in the UK and India to create this project. The design reconnects us to our physical world and, through shared material understanding, explores existing connections between cultures.

Exposition/Prologue

Research, community consultation, design development and planting for the Hand Earth Gesture Return public art programme for Coventry ad Warwickshire....
Using digital technologies to support a craft skills exchange between collaborating artists in Coventry, UK and Kolkata, India. ...
Rachael Champion, Amy & Oliver Thomas-Irvine & Jim Woodall along with the Pangaea team and their young children spent the day learning how to make cob to produce a structure...

Chapter 1: The Seed

Chapter 2: The Rick

Synonymous with the English landscape until the middle of the last century, stacks and ricks are still used to store and dry straw and grain in many parts of the...

Chapter 3: The Hairy Barge

Chapter 4: The Build

Chapter 5: Gesture

The finale of Hand Earth Gesture Return beginning the erosion of the art work and its return to the earth. ...
This fifth chapter saw the last year’s growing, sourcing and creation activity brought together in this site-specific public art installation, designed for Coventry Canal Basin and inspired by the surrounding...

Chapter 6: The Return

Completing the lifecycle, the recycle and return of the materials used for sustainable public artwork Hand Earth Gesture Return....
Talk by Nandita Palchoudhuri, Kolkata-based Consultant-Curator within Indian Folk Practices in the Visual Arts, Crafts and Performance....
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