Potato Shard


In the fields of Loos en Gohelle, potatoes and bomb shell fragments root themselves in the soil, until the teeth of a tractors spurt them out.

From battlefields to potato fields, the soil carry a heavy past, where one soldier out of three who died during the First World War disappeared into the soil without leaving any traces.


In between the high tech tractors and the beetroot harvesting machines, the metalic fragments piles up contrasting the time. Scrap and precious sometimes kept  without really knowing why. Proudness of cultivating a land where people fought for, or just simple curiosity.











By using a material, that had a primary function of destruction, in order to divide people, nation. I tried to transformed it into an object that would connect.
Because food and eating represent a simple act that bring people together, to share something, I chose to sculpted and forged 12 sets of cutlery with the idea to go back to the village, and share a potato diner with the inhabitants.

Symbolic veggie of the Nord pas de Calais,  potato is  also the harvest when most of the the bomb shells come back to the surface because of its depth.






They are all around the table, talking, sharing their lifes or war anecdotes.

The metal lives up, animated by the hands gesture of the people who nowadays make this land alive.