My bird jars represent Green Woodpeckers, often called Rain Birds because of their association with storms. The Rain Birds in folklore arrive after the rain and metaphorically to me they symbolise healing after a period of grieving. They’ve been a recurring motif in my work. The symbols pressed with hand carved stamps into the surface of the Rain Bird jar are linked to plants with traditional meanings, personal memories of loved ones and objects associated with people who have died. Canopic jars held parts of people such as their heart and brain. I thought of mine as holders of memory. 

This Rain Bird references my friend Julius and my grandparents. The laces of Julius’s doc martins, the orchid he gifted me, his charcoal, my grandparents rings, drops of their perfume, the cogs of the clock in the living room, Rosemary springs and Rowan berries.