Theory

Silver crafted in Indonesia over a Dimple whiskey bottle.

Essay Topic Proposal - Art & Change - Year 2

My essay topic will discuss Dutch colonisation and the impact of Western influences on art in Indonesia. A silver lined, glass decanter from Indonesia that is now in my family’s possession will be the focus of my essay. As I am currently in the jewellery and metal smithing department the history and use of silver interests me.

In an article by Kevin Murray, Till Death Do Us Part: A Structurationist Approach To Jewellery, he quotes:

Removing the object from its place in the world is like uprooting a plant: it denies the object’s origins and source of sustenance. For precious objects, this is to deny the material and traditional aspects of their production, as well as the structures which cause them to circulate outside of workshops. The object lives by drawing on elements outside of itself: matter, thoughts, bodies, etc. Take those away and you have a sterile and secure environment that is not touched by unstable factors, but you also have a setting which reduces the capacity of the object to find its mode of being. Thus, in the end, art loses its audience. (1)

I would like to explore this comment further in relationship to the silver decanter and its relevance to connections with our lectures on the infiltration of the West to other parts of the world. This article appears in our jewellery and metal smithing course reader for this semester.

(1)“Murray, K. “Till Death Do Us Part: A Structurationist Approach To Jewellery”. In Craft in Society - An Anthology of Perspectives, (ed) Noris Ioannou. Freemantle Art Centre Press. South Fremantle, W.A 1992. 198