SOPHIE STANDFORD

WORK

ABOUT

in the forest garden: forest garden antler fig tree bramble heart pas-de-deux storm change

Storm

what cup and saucer,
trivial, fragile vessel?
what dark history,
imperfect, decorative society?

a storm without forecast brings
rich petrichor of rain,
sparkling and dancing
bittersweet

2019
Single channel colour HD video with camera sound, 7’22”
Location: Forest Garden, Suffolk

Troubled by this delicate, decorated porcelain cup and saucer, so small and trivial in the face of such a powerful downpour of rain, yet uncomfortably representative of a history of tea and coffee; an elegent vessel designed for the consumption of an exotic drink brought to the west through the dispicable treatment of human beings and environment.

This cup and saucer and what it might signify about culture, history, society, people, is filled, and flows with the purification of rain in a summer storm, which peaks with a momentary electric crackle of lightning.