Arranging Sediment: A Scale-shifting Pursuit of Pleasure

Abstract

Fluid, meandering and often diverging – like the river Tigris; this thesis navigates a vague and confounding field of loss. Loss which isn’t present in an exemplifiable sense to the author, but rather has become an abstract field, wherein an investigation in to how a landless connection can find footing. This footing comes in the form of two grounding elements. Practice: Mosaic, and Material: Brick, which converge in the hands of the maker in search of new possibilities. The Brick and Mosaic Methodology is used to interrogate the verbiage associated with deterioration, and in turn, time. That of burying and depositing; actions encapsulated the constant flux of the River Tigris, wherein silt is displaced by the swirling current to then be deposited somewhere new, burying the layer of clay below. In Mesopotamia the thousands of years old civilisations which occupied spaces by the river, make the stratification of these layers of time even more felt. An inquiry into the abstract field of loss is invigorated by the material connections I arrange together as mosaicist, which in itself acts as a time-affected relationship with the passing down of the making process to the author from her grandmother. The craft-based methodology eventuates in findings which call forward an expanded discussion surrounding the brick’s role in architecture, and the potential it holds in contributing towards a Taxonomy of Mosaic. In doing so, I argue Mosaic as an Architectural categorisation is able to encompass a method of design which is far more sympathetic to ambiguity. It’s nature, calling on the resoundingly human act of collection, and arrangement, leads to a dialect of design which implies a focus on relational qualities; more often felt, than perceived. The referenced histories of brick, land, and all other displaced pieces within the field of loss, come together to form essential functions of enjoyment, delight, and pleasure— alongside an appreciation of ambiguity and spontaneity.