Treasure hunting in old buildings and abandoned places

I am fascinated and inspired by old buildings and abandoned places, and the site’s cultural heritage and narrative that become visible through the architectural style, the construction materials and other ‘left overs’: which narrative is connected to this place, why are these very materials used here, and what was the original function of the building or the found object?

Many constructing traditions have existed through hundreds of years, but have within the recent decades been replaced by more modern materials and less time-consuming methods – and this has left behind many buildings and construction materials as valueless. Often only pictures and stories survive. In my artistic practice I want to give new life to these objects and tell their stories, by creating wearable pieces of jewellery combining these seemingly valueless objects with other (precious and non-precious) materials. By this I want to pay homage to trivial and ordinary materials and give the possibility to discover and perceive the beauty hidden inside “the scrap”.

I go treasure hunting in and around old buildings or abandoned places and I always take my camera with me to document the places where I found my objects. The stories and places connected to these objects and materials are essential for my work and a huge source of inspiration to me. My recent body of work is made of construction materials and objects found at Demstrup Gl. Mejeri, an old Danish cheese manufactory built in 1934, which has been out of service (and partly untouched) since 1974.