When Things Come Apart by Dd

I went to Farnham yesterday to see my friend Dd's MA degree show at the University of Creative Arts.

It was an adventure to start with because I found that it would be quicker by bus than by train. How exciting! I got to see the Hog's Back and sit in the Farnham "rush hour" (spoiler: not much rushing in Farnham at any time of the day).

The piece Dd has made is called "When Things Come Apart". At first view, it's a scaled-up (the crown is about 30ft from the ground) version of a matchstick model of the Statue of Liberty, which is being deconstructed and turned into a wall.

It's in Farnham till the end of the week, then it's going to the UCA Epsom campus (I'll try to see it there when I pop down occasionally) and then it needs other homes. I think it would look good in a seaside environment, maybe on a harbour wall somewhere or on the edge of a cliff looking out to sea. I'd also like to see her on top of a hill somewhere, maybe Glastonbury Tor.

So it talks to me about the fragility of liberty, how it can be subverted to restrict people's freedom, how one person's freedom is another person's incarceration. But also it makes me think about how symbols aren't the thing themselves - the Statue of Liberty might represent freedom and acceptance and welcome and integration, but it still exists whether those things are part of mainstream life or not and so it starts to have an ironic feel.