Imaginary Order: A collaboration exploring waste, value and abjection in relation to materiality and aesthetics

Abstract

This paper discusses the collaborative practice-led research project initiated by Gayle Matthias and Rachel Darbourne in 2023 and the resulting joint creative identity that emerged. Both are unconventional craft practitioners, kiln formed glass and jewellery practice are respective specialisms.  The reappropriation and assemblage of waste objects and materials was a common shared methodology and situated their creative practice on the boundaries between craft and fine art and for the purposes of the paper they refer to themselves as ‘the artists’.