Abstract

My sculpture work and thesis investigate the potential of historical museological practices—particularly Victorian and Edwardian display technologies—in contemporary art-making and sculptural practice. I ask three central questions: how can the collection and display of natural history materials be ethically defended in the present day; how might traditional exhibition orthodoxies be reconfigured to privilege the prosaic, domestic, and handmade over the novel and precious; and what role does the idiosyncratic and beautiful play in narrating material stories within an ethical, Anthropocene-aware framework?The study employs a practice-led methodology combining iterative art-making, critical reflection, and active fieldwork. Working from a studio in Somerset, UK, I develop sculptural assemblages primarily from ethically sourced and found materials, using journalling, drawing, and audience engagement to test emerging ideas. Each of the three thesis chapters addresses a distinct focus—the collection of nature, the collection of small things, and the habitat diorama—examining how these museological forms, though historically outmoded, retain communicative potential. Through close dialogue with scholarship on museum theory, memory, and material culture, the research reappraises these models as productive frameworks for contemporary artistic inquiry. The findings demonstrate that the auratic qualities of the museum display model can be critically reappropriated to engage with the ethical and ecological tensions they once obscured. Moreover, the material and conceptual constraints imposed by an ethically and low-carbon mode of art production are shown to enhance, rather than diminish, the communicative power of sculptural practice. The thesis thus contributes to ongoing debates surrounding the ethics of display, sustainability in art-making, and the continuing resonanceof museological forms in shaping cultural memory and contemporary visual discourse.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Angela Piccini, Katharine Willis

Keywords

Museum, Collecting, Nature, Art, Cabinet, Sculpture, DuncanCameron, Taxidermy, Specimen, Museums, Diorama, Fine Art

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2026

Embargo Period

2026-02-19

Deposit Date

February 2026

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