a broken part (2010)
In 2010 Philip expanded on his work with ceramic imagery, and began to explore the notion of impermanent ceramic objects. He called them ‘transitory objects’ - objects that were not made to last. To create objects that challenged ceramic’s value of permanence, turned the idea of a ceramic sculpture on its head. Philip began to make these unfired clay sculptures and created a series of them for a play called ‘A Broken Part’ by a theatre company called Big Odd who were introduced to him through Camberwell College of Arts.
‘A Broken Part’ was described as a ‘catholic pop emigrant performance’. The show tells the story of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, who went into the streets to care for the workers and feed the people. Legend says that one day she was caught by her husband leaving the house, whilst hiding bread in her apron. She lied to him, telling him it was roses she was carrying and when she opened the apron the bread had been miraculously transformed into roses. The show is a multidisciplinary piece about displacement and on how it feels to not belong.
In ‘A Broken Part’ the central character Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, is adorned with Philip’s fragile handmade ceramic body-sculptures and costumes - featuring geometric religious crosses, beaded rose-encrusted necklaces and sculptural draped gowns.
The unfired stoneware body-sculptures were made to be transitory objects, complete sets of unique breakable sculptures that turned into dusty memories when destructed onstage each evening of the play - objects made to exist and to be broken. These ceramic photographs capture the ceramic objects whilst they're waiting to be seen. Aside from existing in the audience's memory, the photographs now become the sole evidence of their fleeting existence.
For the second run of 'A Broken Part' at Camden Fringe Theatre, Philip began to explore more conventional costume design through use of fabrics. He created a lace costume that contrasted the weighty costume of the first run. The lace was inspired by the story's protaganist obsession with his family home and its tables covered in lace. The ceramic crowns, the rose-encrusted beaded necklaces, and the giant crosses were also worn and were again created to be transitory objects.
