Christine Mackey

b. 1963, Ireland

I began in July 2003 by collecting 1,000 jam jars from people in my local area. The whole process, from visiting people, collection of jars, to washing, to drawing, to presentation is imperative to the project. Recycling becomes the ‘method’ 1 of doing, and also the matter. A further 2,000 jam jars were donated by Alpack, a recycling company in Dublin.

The drawings for this project were sourced in The Morphology of Forms, a book published in the 1800s. I began by copying the original drawing onto the jam-pot lid covers. I then photocopied each diagram, increasing the scale from 100% to 200%, on up to 400%, and copied all of the results on to the jam-pot lid covers using white ink. I continue the whole process over and over again so that the original diagram is no longer legible as a unique drawing. I am working with intensification of scale on a continuous basis, with each round of drawings worked from the previous round of photocopying. My intention is to upset the original through the mechanical process of the photocopy machine. A synthesis of the hand-drawn and the machine ironically twisted into the copy both as source and result.

The work draws attention to a number of issues – diagram as ‘ready-made’; 1 questioning the source of originality; product of consumption into the reproduction of artwork; public participation; ‘models of sociality’; democratisation of the art object; and ownership of work.

(Text: imagine limerick catalogue, 2004)