THE WALL
Neckpiece for Nik Hanton by Eva Suba
Leather, Iron, Concrete, Marmor
Theme: Refugee Crisis
In the framework of The Contemporary Jewellery Exchange
The refugee crisis is particularly interesting for me as while my roots are in Hungary, I live in Germany. Two countries, two identities, two completely opposite takes on the refugee crisis. My original "home-country" builds walls to keep people away, while my current "home-country" welcomes refugees with open arms. Hungary built walls made of concrete and steel mesh wire on the Balkan-route of the refugees and closed itself in, just two decades after tearing down the Iron Curtain.
In 2015, when the first wave of refugees started to walk from Budapest to Vienna towards the “promised land” of Germany, I was there, I saw them walking. A mass of people with children, in
slippers and a bag of clothes. I travelled with some of them via train from Vienna to Germany.
If you needed to flee war, what would you take with you?
If you needed to flee war, where would you go?
LOCKED ROOMS - SECRET SPACE
Neckpiece for Eva Suba by Nik Hanton
Concrete, pewter, paint, textile
Theme: Domestic abuse
In the framework of The Contemporary Jewellery Exchange
Nik's Neckpiece is a small structure within which a secret torment had been locked.
"We all have locked rooms inside us
and find our own to way to secure them.
We encase them, we stitch them, we bind them, we bury them,
and, regardless of their weight, we carry the burden alone.”
In 2016 Nik and Eva met via the Contemporary Jewellery Exchange project. The exchange is an art project where 370 artists from all over the world were paired and asked to create a unique contemporary piece of jewellery for each other.
In their pairing Eva and Nik decided to respond to an issue that had particular relevance to the political climate in their respective ends of the world. For Nik, it was domestic abuse, for Eva it was the refugee crisis.