Cemetary Plot Enclosure c. 1937

Charlotte Angus drew this Cemetary Plot Enclosure sometime in the 20th century, with careful and exacting lines. Imagine her sitting with her pencils and paper, trying to capture all the details of this metalwork with its lyre motif and pendant, probably for some long-forgotten, grieving family. It makes me think about what it’s like to try to capture something in a drawing – all those lines, trying to fix something down. It’s a struggle between what you see, and what you know, and what you feel. And what was she feeling, spending so long drawing this gate to a burial plot? Graveyards are creepy, sure, but I think there's a tenderness in depicting this, too. In a way, she’s trying to remember and preserve something, just like the people who originally built this elaborate enclosure. It's about preservation, memory, but also loss. The more I look at it, the more I feel like she’s in conversation with all the artists and craftsmen, across time, who have tried to catch something that’s slipping away.