An exploration of Cornwall’s China Clay industry and how, to this day, it shapes the region’s landscape, culture and experience, this film by Yusof Abdul-Rahman is the outcome of a series of meetings and conversations initiated by CAST and by journalist Kate de Pury.
The conversation between artist Richard Wentworth and historian Ivor Bowditch represents a meeting of two men of similar age, their lives led in different spheres, whose dialogue sparks new connections and insights. Wentworth, one of the UK’s most influential artists and sculptors, has always been fascinated by materials and by how things are made. Bowditch spent his working life in the China Clay industry near St Austell, starting as a young man supervising the work of extraction in the pits and ending in a senior management role, a career of nearly fifty years that gives him an exceptional overview and understanding of the changing industry.
You can read more about the project here.