Salt Artefacts, 2015–2022

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These objects draw on the typologies of early jewellery, evoking bracelets and rings from the early medieval period, when salt and gold were exchanged as equivalents in value. Unlike stone or metal, salt carries an inherent fragility: prolonged contact with water erodes it, while even minor impact risks fracture. This vulnerability generates a palpable tension in the encounter—what appears solid is, in fact, perpetually on the verge of dissolution. Though conceived in relation to the body, the works resist functionality as adornment. Instead, they operate as speculative relics, staging the instability of value and permanence. By tracing salt’s trajectory—from extraction at farms, to commodification on supermarket shelves, to its re-inscription in the studio, and finally into the gallery or collection—the work reflects on how matter accrues symbolic weight across economies of circulation.

Historically, salt functioned not only as a preservative and seasoning but also as a form of currency, a substance whose worth rivaled that of precious metals. In regions of Africa and Europe during the early Middle Ages, large bracelet-like forms circulated both as ornament and unit of exchange, their scale amplifying their dual role as wearable wealth and portable value. By rearticulating this history, the series resonates with the dual ontology of jewellery—intimately tied to the body yet simultaneously a signifier of economic and cultural power. Here, salt becomes a paradoxical medium: at once essential, perishable, and symbolic, its transformation into fragile adornment reopens a dialogue between materiality, value, and transience.