So this is a toilet!
Nowadays toilets are made from china clay, whereas i believe this particualr toilet was made from pressed clay, in the same way that tiles were made. This is why it has an off-white colour.
We are not sure when this artifact was produced but by looking at its features , it doesn’t have two holes at the back meaning it didnt have a seat or a cover connected. From this we can tell it was produced somewhere between 1895 and 1905. The toilet was found in a back garden and this was the usual location for toilets at this period in time.
The only text on this object tells you what it was called, ‘The Earl Washdown’. However it is beautifully printed with a blue flowery design which is unusual for a toilet.
I thought it was a good artifact to choose as it connects with the Ugly theme we spoke about last week and how something ugly can be changed into something much prettier.
The toilet has been cleaned but from digitalised versions of how it looked when it was found, it was cracked and very dirty.
So toilets are connected to sewers and we live by the river thames where sewage is a big problem. The Royal Commision reported that untreated sewage should no longer be pumped into the Thames. In the future solid waste would be moved into the North Sea by sludgeboats which transported this sewage.
Now in progress is the Thames Tideway tunnel, a tunnel to control or intercept sewage which currently discharges into the Thames via 34 sewage overflows. This tunnel will ensure the river is kept clean and healthy for future generations to come.
My extra research as an outcome of my visit
Sewage and sewers
The river thames and the tideway tunnel
My presentation
Connections to my work
The research I have done about the sewage system connects to my mixed media piece in Expanded art forms as my initial idea was to use physical rubbish as one of my mediums. I chose rubbish as a medium because it reflects the ‘rubbish’ things that have happened to me in the last few years. I envisage making something more beautiful out of it . (Maybe I could make a sea out of rubbish!)