Deep materialism and care-Taking: a study of material relationships for the 21st century

A collaboration supported by the Creative Exchange Programme of the  Environment and Sustainability Institute,  University of Exeter.

Welcome to our blog!

Dr Alison Harper  and Dr Sarah Chave

Through this blog we hope to record and share with you our collaboration exploring current human use and abuse of the material world. We propose that if we develop our relationships with matter, with materials, so that they become closer to us, become us and are seen as a part of us, then we will care for, and feel responsible for, their journey in and through the biosphere.

Our shared investigation seeks ways to encourage the development of such close and caring relationships with the material world through the sensory, the experiential and consideration of the implications of such relationships for the ways we act in the world. An example of such a process is paper making by deconstructing a disposable coffee cup, revealing a wealth of material unnoticed and uncared for.

Twine and lace: Two cups, one deconstructed