My piece has a name!

Introducing the latest work from Eleanor Rae Smith:

'Piggies' 2009

Plaster

Dimensions Variable

I think the name of a piece is incredibly important in the way it is seen by the viewer. I often look at a piece titled 'untitled' and feel a little let down because I want to draw more information from a name. Another of Toby Christians pieces can be used as an example here:

On first glance, it appears to be nothing more than a piece of bent steel, but on finding out it is called 'Superman', you begin to see it in a new light, and it starts to become a symbol of strength, trust and courage. 

I wanted to give my piece a name that was both personal to me, and that the audience could relate to, as this is also the attitude I have adopted when making the work itself. The only names I came up with to start with were horribly cliched and obvious; footprints, memory, nostalgia, home is where...etc etc. Then I looked at the poem, Footprints in the Sand by Mary Stevenson, which is about a girls looking back over her life, and seeing two sets of footprints in the sand, one being hers and the other those of "the lord". She reflects, that in times of sadness and despair, she could only see one set of footprints, and she asks "the lord", why he was not with her during the hardest times, and he replied that there was only one set of footprints during those times because he carried her. For a while, I thought my piece was going to be called "When I carried you", but it never felt right. I am not religious at all, and although I liked the title, it isn't really very relevant to my reasons for making this work. I was talking to Sarah about it, and explaining where my ideas had come from and I told her the story of me collecting stones with holes in on the beach and handing them to my mum, telling her they were piggies. As soon as I heard myself say "Piggies" I knew that was the name, and Sarah agreed. I know why they are called that, but the audience now have the freedom to connect with the piece and the name for their own reasons. There is also the connection with the footprints and the 'this little piggy went to market...' nursery rhyme, which subconsciously harks back to childhood for most people.