WRAPPING COPPER
Wrapping Copper (2025)
Reclaimed cloth, cardboard, paint, mixed media
Wrapping Copper formed the centrepiece of the Catching Copper exhibition at Michell’s Engine House (National Trust East Pool Mine), located within the UNESCO Cornwall and West Devon World Heritage Site.
Visitors first encountered the sculpture from below, looking up to where it hung suspended centrally within the historic engine house. Viewers could then make their way upward through the building, experiencing the artwork framed by the industrial fabric of the space.
This sculpture binds together a collection of materials to create one single mass, making the physical tension visible as the elements work together to hold their form.
Made using cloth from Cornwall Scrapstore, its core contains cardboard ‘rocks’, made in workshops by participants in the MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh project. The ‘rocks’ were painted in colours representing participant’s relationships with the land of Kernow. These colours were then given names in Kernewek (Cornish) expanding the lexicon of this ancient language.
“As I wrap, I meet the same points again and again but each time the surface changes and time passes. Through this action I think about how understanding and perspective shifts and evolves with changing context.” Sovay Berriman
Photos by Sovay Berriman and Rachael Jones