In the Pallet Series, I explore the relationships between the labour of the artist and that of the workplace, pitching the handmade aesthetic against the efficient and impersonal world of the machine-made.

The accredtitation for the photogrphic documentation is as follows: image 1a (Amina Bihi), images 1b-d were taken by myself and image 1e (Laura Saari).

Pallet Series (2009 – present)

I collected 50 standard-sized wooden packing crates (pallets 120cm x 100cm) that had been discarded in and around Liverpool; I then brought them to my studio to be repaired, cleaned, sanded and eventually primed and painted.

Each pallet was painstakingly prepared with keen attention to detail, the top side of the pallet would be painted in one colour before the flipside was painted in a contrasting colour. Different colour combinations were used each time so as to make every pallet even more unique. Finally the contours of the pallet would be painted with black lines in order to emphasise the physical structure of the object.

I liaised with numerous shipping companies to adopt some of these luxury handcrafted pallets for use on their supply and delivery chains. Once my pallets were accepted and awaiting their dispatch, I requested that the delivery logistics teams attempt to keep track of some of the pallets and inform me of their whereabouts.

Of those that could be tracked, I would contact the recipient to arrange a visit to document my pallets being used. Some people thought it odd that I went to so much effort; I would tell them that I’m trying to find out what it means to be an artist.

Some of the pallets travelled further and on a small sticker on the bottom of the pallets I’d requested that they could be photographed in my absence. The final…