Norman Cherry Scotland / England
Who's Laughing Now brooch
Piece included in the exhibition Tincal lab Challenge 2024 Jewelry and Freedom (maximum price 150€)
Materials empty (unused) nitrous oxide cylinder, balloon
Size 45x120x10mm
The first two pieces refer in a literal sense to putting flowers into gun barrels. In “Jaggy Arse" the flower is a dried Eryngium which is very spiky (“jaggy” in the Scots language), symbolising the potential for hard won freedoms to be lost through complacency and indifference but also an allusion to its use by the owners of historic houses to deny visitors the freedom to sit on the furniture. “Who's Laughing Now” is a reference to the use of Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas) in an attempt to achieve freedom from the everyday, often with disastrous consequences.
