Sandblasted glass, metal, wood, water, silver leaf, pigment, 1998, 300 x 100 x 300cm

This piece considers the place of individual histories throughout the upheaval of the more universal history in Iran. Sa’adi, the 13th century Persian poet, compared life and the passing of time, to the process of glass being exposed to a stone. In Tearcatcher, the sandblasted images are of ancient glass vessels in the Glassware and Ceramics Museum of Iran and of ordinary people with unknown stories, within a wallpaper pattern. Inside the tower water drips slowly and continuously through a structure inspired by ancient Persian irrigation systems, and is recycled.  Accompanying essay by Rohini Malik Okon.

Temporary installation commissioned for the James Hockey Gallery Foyer and made following a research trip to Iran funded by Arts Council, England.

A different version of this piece was shown at the Town Hall Gallery, Braintree in 2007.

Accompanying essay by Siobhan Wall.

photography Simon Sandys
except Tearcatcher dome by John Gill