‘Public Glass’
2024
collages
reclaimed acrylic glass, plastic, paper, signage, adhesives, rubber edging

at nGbK, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin



‘& Chic, Imbiss I, Just?, Off-Licence I & II, Sea of Food, Sea of Foods, Sodas I & I’ are collages created from reclaimed display materials, gathered from local food venues around London. The layers of used acrylic, handwritten signage, print outs and packaging form a ply of ‘public glass’, drawing tender and abstract portraits of the socially significant spaces they stem from.

The windows of these small corner shops are usually make-shift displays of handwritten notes, sun-bleached print outs, colourful advertisements, public transport information and local announcements. Subsequently they are a form of self-publishing platform and become a reflection of the particular social spaces these stores occupy in the urban landscape. These composite laminate-artworks from this series are a reverence and encouragement to writing, scratching or sticking information to the public glass panels of our cities to regain autonomy and ownership of those interfaces of the build environment, rather than delegating the power to announce to larger commercial entities.