Commission by BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation, Central Saint Martins
"A leaf, a gourd, a shell, a net, a bag, a sling, a sack, a bottle, a pot, a box; a container. A holder. A recipient."
In her 1986 text, The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin deconstructs the idea of the singular, masculine, weapon-yielding "Hero" as the core of history. Instead, she puts forward the theory that the earliest cultural inventions were containers that held gathered items, quietly, subtly supporting lite. Containers, Le Guin posits, are not merely passive vessels but active participants in the circulation of goods and ideas - spaces for accumulation and transtormation.
Shelf Life is an exhibition by students from BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation, Central Saint Martins, in partnership with the Camden Art Collection. Alongside and in dialogue with a selection of still life paintings from the collection by artists including David Hockney, Robert Macbryde, Rigmor Hansen, Leonard Applebee, Daphne Sandham, and Martin Fidler, the exhibition features commissioned artwork by Ela Kazdal and Matthew Dardart. Composed of objects commonly found in local markets, such as packaging crates and cardboard boxes, these new works subvert and reimagine the traditional still life genre, transforming everyday items dynamic, three-dimensional pieces that capture and reflect the current precarious yet persistent communal energy of Camden’s local, council-supported supported markets and the objects that uphold them.
nature mort, 2025
Plastic crates, iPhone footage, found market paraphernalia
Nature Mort engages with the poetic and political dimensions of everyday materials. Here, a tower of identical black plastic crates composes both a sculptural framework and a display mechanism for a video piece, This footage, captured on her iPhone at various Camden markets, mimics still life imagery to document goods on sale -plastic-wrapped-fruit in the surrounding area- a juxtaposition that emphasises themes of consumption, decadence, and the overlooked vestiges of commercial exchange.
Homeware and symbolic paraphernalia sourced from the market - skull charms, fresh and artificial flowers, fruit, clocks, bongs, poppers, etc. — are both held within and spill out from the structure, dissolving the boundary between containment and excess. The interplay of moving image and physical objects creates an immersive, multilayered work that draws connections between the market's material culture and broader themes of ephemerality, value, and urban consumption. The piece becomes a meditation on what is preserved and what is cast aside, what becomes still and what can never remain so.