Swellendam Sausage Machine – on the Shelf
Recently visiting the town of Swellendam in South Africa, spotted on a shelf in a 19th Century farmer’s house, now a museum, was this amazing item, a Swellendam Sausage Machine
Measuring approximately 2 foot long from tip to toe and 9 inches high – it transpired to be a sausage machine.
But what a design! Obviously ergonomically functional and labour saving efficient it held a mystique visually and indeed tactilely too.
Taking the usual holiday snap destined to be confined to the bottom of the digital pictures file drawer and forgotten about, the image stuck with me.
It inspired me to create this picture responding to the Royal Academy 2018 Summer Exhibition ‘Call for Entries‘.
A simple compilation of acrylic images glued to thin ply. A map of 19th Century South Africa and a few ‘punk-rock’ cogs and wheels.
Just a bit of fun really. No significant message. No deep philosophy. No meaningful interpretation. A simple overlay of images, shapes and colours.
Swellendam Sausage Machine
Let’s see how we get on. At the very least I’ll be able to make some table mats from the image.
Thank you Mr 19th Century Swellendam farmer …
