A work using salvaged materials and recycled ideas shown at the first ever ‘Fair for the Future’:an event “Celebrating sustainability in Penwith”. Cornwall 2009. This event was linked to Transition Penwith : a growing movement of people working towards a sustainable future. The action plan for TP concerns many aspects of our lives including  food, housing, transport, health and social issues. Fair for the Future aimed to celebrate sustainability by gathering together local people, including producers, craft workers, artists, and musicians to share information.

Crate: originally used to ship Murano glass from Venice to Lelant, Cornwall.

Paint: from 3 complete and unopened sets of artists oil paints found in Scotland in a skip destined for landfill.

Text: extracted from ‘Kernewek Kemmyn,” Cornish Dictionary, published by the Cornish Language Board. Two copies of this publication were displayed with the work.

 In Feb 2009, the U.N. declared the Cornish language officially extinct, despite the fact there are currently at least 300 fluent speakers. Pro-extinction arguments include the suggestion that as some people are speaking Cornish primarily as a political act, rather than just for everyday use, it is not really alive.

“Every language reflects a unique world-view with its own value systems, philosophy and particular cultural features. The extinction of a language results in the irrecoverable loss of unique cultural knowledge embodied in it for centuries, including historical, spiritual and ecological knowledge that may be essential for the survival of not only its speakers, but also countless others.”  UNESCO

 For more information sbout the event can be found oin a blogsite I set up :  www.fairforthefuture.blogspot.com

www.artcornwall.org/webprojects/Janet_McEwan.htm

www.artcornwall.org/features/pasty_politics.htm