Turning of the World

This piece of work was created to be part of an exhibition at the Swansea Maritime Museum in 2019. However due to the covid pandemic the exhibition was cancelled.

Turning of the World

Every day people are struggling to improve their lot, be it for economic reasons or because their lives are in peril. After a visit to Swansea Maritime Museum this piece of work was created illustrating the movement of people around the world.  People travelling from one place to another, their paths criss-crossing across the globe. Taking the motif of the mark of the cross, often used in place of a signature, the cloth was woven with reference to family members, who had travelled from Ireland to find work in South Wales. 

By repeating the cross and then wrapping it around the wheel the visitor can turn the handle to view the constant procession of people moving across the world with hope to change their lives. Alfred Petersen had sailed from Stavanger in Norway and was shipwrecked at Passage West in Ireland, where he married and had two children. Four red crosses signify Alfred Petersen, his wife Caroline Cullinan and their two children John and Charles, as they travelled from Passage West to Cardiff in 1874.

As you turn the handle of the wheel people keep coming and keep going and keep moving on around the world.