Lydia Brockless
Paradoxes and oppositions run throughout Lydia Brockless’ work.
Employing everyday, traditionally ‘feminine’ household materials and crafts in unconventional ways, her practice may be described as “Not Using Things For Their Intended Purpose”: soap bars are shredded on a cheese grater, mixed with dyes and remoulded into abstract, organic shapes; crocheted, soft textile is hardened into a cage-like structure by melting its fibres; and liquid detergent forms colourful pools inside handmade vessels, permeating the room with its heady scent.
The soft, comfortable femininity of Brockless’ materials is subjected to destructive processes like cutting, melting and bleaching which in turn negate their original properties as household products, and allow them to become something other.
Faint Esters, 2017
Glazed white stoneware, shower gel, hand soap, bath soak
Crystal Mud, 2018
Soap, dye
