Paramnesia, curated by Glasgow based jewellers, Kristina Merchant and Samantha Sloane, celebrates a body of work that challenges viewers’ perception of preciousness and value. The showcase will include wearable artworks that take on the form of existing objects, but in reality, are constructed in alternative ways. Both artists are inspired by found objects that resonate with their own lived experiences, as well as working with different types of metal, minerals, and gemstones. By choosing to exhibit together for Current Obsession’s fourth edition of OBSESSED! they experiment with the different approaches that explore their concept, creating unique designs that tell stories and generate new meanings.
Poster design by Megan Orr @orriginal_designs
Watch the Paramnesia short film by Robert Galloway here
Paramnesia
Kristina Merchant - Malboro Gold - 2022. Photographer: Kristina Merchant.
Kristina Merchant - Pavement Pennies - 2022. Photographer: Kristina Merchant.
After completing an NQ portfolio course at Glasgow Clyde College in Cardonald, both makers graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 2022 and each obtained a degree with Honours in Silversmithing and Jewellery Design.
Kristina’s conceptual jewellery collection Vision of Beauty, is a mise-en-scène themed scour of the street and explores realism and materiality through her use of metal, amber, and buffalo bone. Processes such as Keum-Boo, carving and enamelling enabled Kristina to replicate everyday wasted objects, however, forcing viewers to question their value due to their material composition. Kristina has gone on to exhibit at Elements Jewellery Festival, Silver and Gold, at Lyon & Turnball in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her collection was featured in Current Obsession, SO MINT! Graduate Showcase, and The Skinny Magazine. Recently, she interned at Current Obsession magazine working on Munich Jewellery Week ’23.
Samantha Sloane - Crustacean Brooch Black - 2023. Photographer: Robert Galloway.
Samantha’s graduate collection Terra Incognita, was inspired by her own lived experiences growing up on the Scottish West Coast. Samantha explores themes of nostalgia and sense of place through working with a range of foraged natural materials as well as precious and semi-precious stones. Experimenting with materiality and preciousness, she creates new objects that mimic forms of the landscape, while having a dreamlike quality. Her collection was shortlisted for ArtsThread’s Global Design Graduate Show in Collaboration with Gucci 2022, and has exhibited at Dazzle Modern Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition and Cluster Contemporary Jewellery Fair, London. Earlier this year, she also exhibited at New Ashgate’s Rising Stars Exhibition in Surrey.
Both graduate collections have gone on to win several prestigious awards such as The Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council in 2023, and were both were selected to exhibit at Galerie Marzee’s Graduate Showcase in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Samantha Sloane - Purple Crustacean Pendant - 2023. Photographer: Robert Galloway.