SOIL: The World at Our Feet, is an exhibition at Somerset House, London, unearthing the wonder of soil and its bonds to all living things. The exhibition communicates through film, objects, research projects, a temporary exhibition kitchen and other installations, the importance of soil in our planet’s future.
Ceramic sculptor and London Potter member, Jo Pearl, is one of the artist’s whose work is shown at the exhibition. Pearl’s work Unearthed is a project that zooms into the choreography of tiny beings that inhabit our soil, which she sees as a largely unknown place ‘that holds one of the keys to life on earth’. Her work Mycelium are sculpted and captured, as they evolve, in many photographic images which are weaved into a film. The sculptures are finally fired in ‘suspended animation, specimens captured for closer inspection’ and the result are beautifully delicate and intriguing.
Image credit: Unearthed – Mycelium by Jo Pearl © Elsa Pearl.jpg
We also loved the fascinating research of designer Kim Norton with Soil Library: a collection of porcelain pinch pots made from samples of many different soils and raw materials across the UK and Europe. The pots offer a glimpse of the clay’s materiality as it alters in texture and colour.
Image credit: Soil Library by Kim Norton ©David Parry, PA Media Assignments