Juliette Peterson-Caffell

'Finding Beauty in Decay'

Juliette Peterson-Caffell is a 24-year-old ceramicist from West-Cornwall. Peterson's porcelain sculptures aim to draw attention to modern overconsumption, such as that the average consumer in the UK throws away over 70kg of food waste per year. She describes these ceramic combines as a modern 'Vanitas' - 'A still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures' with the knowledge of the certainty of death (Tate) - for our planet, and the impact that our worldly pleasures have on the destruction of natural environments.

In traditional 17th century Vanitas artworks, rotten fruit was intended to symbolise an abundance of wealth, as well as the transitory nature of life. Juliette's choice to focus on the apple fruit in particular holds parallels to Eve's temptation to eat the apple in the garden of Eden, similar to the modern consumer being led into temptation by constant advertising and abundance of cheap products.

Peterson casts decaying or reduced-price fruits that would otherwise be thrown away with high quality porcelain clay to create ceramics that both aim to reflect the symbolism of traditional Vanitas artworks, and provide a multi-functional watertight vessel that can both a sculpture or used as a unique vase to display wildflowers. She was taught ceramics by her father, Colin Caffell (Camberwell), known for creating the St Just Tin Miner's Statue and graduated with First Class Degree with Honours in Film and Screen Studies with Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Peterson's porcelain apple vessels have previously been selected to be displayed as part of both the Summer and Winter 2023 Penwith Society of Arts Associate's exhibitions in St Ive's.