This piece is made in response to what I learned about the working conditions at Coldharbour Mill in the nineteenth century, when children were employed from the age of eight. One of their tasks was to clear the scraps from under the 'Mule', an enormous, heavy machine set low on the floor. If they took too long, their only hope of avoiding being crushed was to "lie flat and breathe in".
On one occasion, a man's hand was torn off as he worked on the carding machine; hence, the reference to a "Mill Hand".
The term "cloth ears" originated in the textile mills; apparently, by the age of thirty, working among the hundreds of terribly noisy machines would leave workers deaf.
I see this piece as commemorating those workers of the past, and also those of the present who work in the same conditions in third world countries, producing most of the clothing we are now wearing.

Detail from "Discard"

"Discard"
100 x 120 cm.

"Discard" on the carding room floor during the 'Industrial Relations' exhibition.

The Mill

The exhibition space

Further images from the "Industrial Relations", site specific exhibition of the South West Textile Group, and Coldharbour Mill, Devon.