Conserving Nino Sarabutra
Nino Sarabutra, 'Number 17', 2022, ceramic, oxides, and glaze.
Exhibited at 'Now or Yesterday?' at Cromwell Place, London, curated by Peruke Projects.
Condition Check, and Bespoke Packaging for Storage and Transportation
Location: London, UK
'Now or Yesterday?' further advances and reinvigorates Nino Sarabutra’s trademark theme of the exploration of human emotions. Encouraging the audience to contemplate love, life, and the very spirit of being alive, the Thai artist presents a new series that summons the viewer to consider the climate change crisis as a direct result of human behaviour, as well as the imperativeness of addressing it. Communicating how, as citizens, we must possess a higher purpose, love and respect, not just for ourselves and others, but for nature and the planet, she fills the gallery with ceramic and clay works that represent love in all its forms.
[Nino's] work stimulates self-reflection so audiences consider their position in life, how it feels to be human, what factors drive their emotions, what motivates them.
Having written my Master's dissertation on sustainable and reusable packaging, this project for Peruke Projects was right up my street. Growing up, I never thought that a well packaged artwork would make me as happy as it does- but there you go. The package is to be transported by hand to a buyer in Florida in June 2023, and so Sarabutra's ceramic heart needed to be packaged for 'long' term storage (in this case, only 4 months, but you never know what plans can change before an artwork is finally displayed) and transportation.
The package will be couriered by hand to Florida, so we did not need to purchase more robust wooden crates. Instead, an acid free box measuring 65 x 65 x 20 cm was made by Conservation Resources. Plastazote was cut to size to line the box, and bubble wrap and acid free tissue paper were used to buffer and pad the ceramic heart in its new home.
No tape was used in the making of this package
The ethos behind conservation is to preserve and protect. I am a strong believer that this ethos should carry through in all dimensions of our practices, and we should do all we can to ensure that out practices do not have an adverse affect on our planet. That is why, wherever it can be helped, Green's Art Conservation doesn't use any tape when packaging artworks or artefacts. If it's not absolutely essential, don't use it. This is mainly because recyclable materials, such as bubble wrap, cardboard and tissue paper cannot be recycled once they are covered in the sticky stuff. It also reduces the ability to fully reuse these materials, as removing tape from delicate materials such as these rips them, rendering them unusable.
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When the artwork is transported, the lid will be secured with acid free cotton tape. Recyclable brown paper will be used to wrap the box, which will then also be secured with cotton tape, with handles fashioned for easy carrying for the courier. This way, the beautiful bespoke box is not scratched or damaged, and all the materials, including the brown paper wrapping, can be either reused or recycled completely.
Step by step
The box, custom made by Conservation Resources, was lined with Plastazote, and the heart was buffered with acid free tissue paper and bubble wrap.
Acid free tissue paper and bubble wrap in then places around the heart to reduce movement and increase protection.
The lid is then added and markers put on the bottom right corner to indicate the orientation of the heart inside the packaging.
The box, custom made by Conservation Resources, was lined with Plastazote, and the heart was buffered with acid free tissue paper and bubble wrap.