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The Ferns and I is a collection of five protective apotropaic amulets (derived from Greek apotropaios; the power to avert evil influences and bad luck), designed and created with the intention of being held. These sculptures use the forms of Ferns; known for their magical properties to stave off misfortune and draw in positive felicity. These objects are meant to interact with the hands as a calming stimuli for personal anxiety, by acting as a vector of tension release.
Combining the physical materials of steel and the metaphysical association of ferns’ fortuitous properties in these totems of mental defence, I have captured the calmness and the sense of shielding that I try to implement in my grounding techniques, and in the practices of reflection and self-assessment I use when my mental health declines. Meditation upon the process of handling the charms, and observing their resolute immovability, acts to quell the chaos inside one’s own psyche.
Dissertation – The Ferns and I
