Plinth

Day 8 of groving: Silver Spoon sees Amanda Loomes immaculate plinth placed in Chequer Square. The responses are by Lynda Turbet and David Dougan. 

Sugar
Men fought for my delight 
craved my deadly melting,
tongues greedy for gold; 
white sails billowed from Africa
with cargoes of clanking shackles 
built fortunes, mansions, schools,
founded on crumbling crystals 
stained with blood. Do not judge;
seducer,murderer,benefactor?
I am what you made me.

Lynda Turbet

Silver Spoon - how do you choose
Who shall win and who shall lose
In this fickle lottery of life? And why?
When so many strive yet fail to fly
Into a blessed world of ease
Where they may do as they shall please.
Your precision of space and purity of form
Give no hint of why you favour or scorn
Those who deserve more - or less.
You may sugar the pill and stress
The nature of life but who could guess
Who will win the sweetness of your success?
 
David Dougan

Amanda Loomes is preoccupied by watching other people at work and listening to what they have to say about the world. She is particularly moved by the effort of people whose work goes unnoticed or that is difficult to see, work that becomes erased or undone. She uses the experimental documentary form to consider the frailty and resilience of human endeavour, imbuing materials and landscapes with the stories of the people who made them.

Amanda graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2006.  She has exhibited widely in the UK including Jerwood Space, London and with HOUSE and Photoworks as part of Brighton Festival. She has undertaken commissions with the National Trust, producing the film Keepers, about the estate workers at Lyme. During 2019 her film installation The Custody Code toured to forests in the UK as part of The Forestry Commission’s centenary celebrations. Instagram @loomesamanda Twitter @AmandaLoomes www.amandaloomes.net

Lynda Turbet observes the world from North Norfolk and tries make sense of it all through writing.

David Dougan had a career in journalism, television and arts management. He now concentrates on writing and lecturing, on history and art history. He is the author of a dozen books, including Bury St Edmunds: A Rebellious Town.