Sally Starborg

Phoenix?

(Plastic, votive wax, 2011)

Taking the image of an oil-soaked Pelican from the Gulf Oil Spill, Starborg creates a symbol of the increasingly hazardous quest for oil; oil that is used not only for petrol but to make plastic for our consumerist culture.

Wax from votive candles is used to create symbols of desired objects. In Mediaeval times, these were images of parts of the body requiring healing; here they represent consumer goods.

Telford’s stands at the junction of canals, once a low carbon way of transporting goods, before our increasing reliance on road transport and our pursuit of the latest products. The Phoenix rose again from the ashes. Here, there is a hope that we recognise the damage we are doing and accept that Less is More.