Melissa Cameron - 'Sweeper Blade' Single Link on Chain (melc557)

'Sweeper Blade' Single Drop Earrings, 2023

MATERIALS: Found steel street sweeper blades, stainless steel chain

DIMENSIONS: 27 x 9 x 3mm link on a 73cm chain

ARTIST STATEMENT

"Steel street sweeping bristles are used by large street sweeper trucks in industrialised cities, where they clean the roads. In time, like all metal, these steel blades work harden and break free from the machines. They fall to the gutter, left behind to rust on city streets the world over. Thousands of these thin metal strips have been collected by me and on my behalf by friends in many cities, including Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia, an in the USA, Asia and Europe. I anneal them, clean them up and used them across my art practice.

These pieces can rust - reseal with Renaissance (TM) or Carnuba wax as needed." 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Melissa Cameron is an Australian artist with Anglo-Celtic and Canadian ancestry. Born and raised in Boorloo/Perth, she has lived in Melbourne and Seattle, in the USA. She holds a BA in Interior Architecture and a Postgrad Dip. in Jewellery Production from Curtin University, and an MFA in Jewellery and Metalsmithing from Monash University.
Cameron creates socially aware / protest art. The centre of her practice is her deep empathy towards the human body, and the life that each body represents. She often makes with domestic objects that are familiar to, and which act as a proxy for, the human body, which is also the main venue for the display and dissemination of her primarily wearable messages.

This item is available at Mundaring Arts Centre.

Images courtesy of Melissa Cameron.