Ruined

Ruined, Sarah Sabin, 202, Plaster of Paris, cast and carved. Varied forms as multiple of 4. Approx. 5cmx5cmx5cm.

Informed by the destruction of cultural artefacts from conflict, and other forms of deliberate damage. Each object is from the human body.

Sabin's sculptures balance in the ruins of one of the richest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. 

Stones Walking
 
One day we’ll all look up
and see the stones walking.
One by one, slow and monumental
they wake, stretching time thin again.
Gently
testing the rigid muscles in feet and mouth,
groaning through lips that were never to make a sound.
Still, strong stone that would never bow 
now begins to bend
at the hip, then straightens out again.
Still, sustained by a stone heart,
alien ancient Romans and Greeks,
their path through pavement is cast and carved.
Old but alive,
straining under the weight of constant watching eyes.
Dust breaks and falls from their bones, 
statues of stone
people walking, cracking, crumbling and leaving
a trail behind.
 
Faith Falayi

NO LONGER A MONUMENTAL SILENCE
 
We had to face-up to it,
no longer guessing at what it meant,
as first an ear, then a nose,
followed by lips and two toes,
individually cast in plaster,
were parcelled-up and sent.
 
‘Let that be a warning’
the accompanying message read.
‘Next time it will be the whole body,
followed by the severed head.’
 
‘No more 
‘hear-no, speak-no, smell-no evil 
‘tip-toeing round the white man’s past,
‘but pulling down his monuments
‘bit by bit, piece by piece,
‘cast by plaster cast’.
 
Phil Barrett

Sarah Sabin's work has been concerned for a number of years with 'digging about under the surface'. This often involves a gathering of histories, taken from both locations and people, and a dissecting, and reassembling of them. Methods and processes used in Archaeology often play a part directly in the research and making of her work, and she uses a wide range of media. She has an MA in Fine Art from Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) Twitter @sarahesabin Instagram @sarahesabin www.sarahsabin.co.uk

Faith Falayi Faith Falayi is a young poet based in Peterborough. In 2020 she was selected the first Peterborough Young Poet Laureate. ​
https://syntaxpoetryfestival.wordpress.com/peterborough-young-poet-laureate-2020/
​
Phil Barrett taught art for 27 years, then retired to his home county of Norfolk where he concentrates on writing. He teaches creative writing, in schools and libraries across North Norfolk. He has won prizes and commendations in national competitions, and has been published in anthologies including In Protest: 150 poems for Human Rights (2013), Word Aid Anthologies Did I Tell You? (2010), and Not Only The Dark (2011), the Ink, Sweat and Tears webzine, and Poems in the Waiting Room in 2016 and 2019. In January 2017 he published a book of poems, Writing Me, about growing-up. ​​