‘We should be always reminded of our similarities’ – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in London

Jonathan Baldock crafts wild magic in his immersive exhibitions. Working primarily with clay and pure textiles, the British artist weaves collectively pagan traditions, expressive pure varieties, and the deep connection he shares with the ladies in his household. For ‘0.1%’ at London Mithraum Bloomberg House, he challenges the patriarchal roots of this former Roman Temple, which was constructed to worship the macho god of justice and warfare. A four-metre-tall mother-goddess determine towers over the exhibition.

‘The divine female predates the temple of Mythras,’ Baldock tells me, once we meet in his east London studio forward of the opening. ‘However the older, divine female goddess figures have been knocked to the facet by warrior societies.’ His idol is powerfully constructed, cloaked in an extended coat coated in swirling vines and flowers. Her outfit is constructed from heavy hessian, like the material baggage used for hop choosing, an extended custom inside his household. Its thick, free weave matches her looming proportions. ‘It appears to be like like a large may have made it,’ he considers. ‘It has an otherworldliness.’

The top is predicated on a sculpture the artist made from his mom when he was a baby; he has scaled it up in bronze, with lapis lazuli gildings. ‘I keep in mind making this determine from earth dug out of the again backyard. Kent soil is claylike; it’s uncooked and sticky. Like a variety of mother and father, she informed me it was unbelievable! I keep in mind feeling very proud.’ The brand new head is each endearing and intimidating; Baldock was eager to embrace this duality, presenting a potent, advanced maternal determine. ‘I used to be a queer child in a single dad or mum household till she married my stepfather, and she or he took on a number of roles. It might be very straightforward to make all of it tacky and cosy, however I wished to indicate the hard-working one who held down a number of jobs and could possibly be terrifying as properly.’

The mother-goddess sits on the centre of a grid of poles which create a maze-like viewing expertise and seize Baldock’s childhood recollections of hop gardens. ‘There’s a sense you get in these areas which is a bit like a forest. I like the concept that it’s not a simple path via.’ The usage of coppice, which entails chopping lengths of wooden however by no means killing the plant, displays the artist’s curiosity in conventional farming methods which have a symbiotic relationship with nature.

Amongst the poles is a choice of ceramics and textiles coated in luscious photographs of bees, foliage, and sacred geometry, in addition to his mom’s favorite flowers: bluebells and snowdrops. Enamel, umbilical cords, and hair are additionally pictured, mirroring parental keepsakes and DNA which runs via generations. Baldock’s mom created a coronary heart sculpture and rendering of the artist’s head from Kent soil, which sit out of sight throughout the goddess. There may be additionally an ambient soundscape created with Baldock’s frequent collaborator Luke Barton, which incorporates whispers, chook tune, and the sound of hop pickers.