Swords into Ploughshares: Knives into Jewels

Concern about knife crime and its effect on communities was the catalyst for this exhibition. These new artworks create positive outcomes from what might be thought of as negative materials. The curators invited thirty-five international jewellery and metals artists to create new bodies of work by refashioning, repurposing, adapting or otherwise transforming knives which had been surrendered to UK police.

The exhibiting artists have been selected for their excellence of practice and ability to comment on and react to social and personal situations through their work. Jewellery and small objects are ideal vehicles to engage with complex issues, having a personal, portable, talismanic potential. This is not conventional “jewellery as product” as seen on the high street, but “jewellery as art object”. The exhibition shows work with a narrative potential: political and social significance is a major feature of this project.