SIMONE
MARSHALL
Table Manners,
2024
2024
Table Manners is the second half of a project responding to the brief of ‘comfort’. This project observes the dining experience and the meticulous behaviour of laying a table and preparing food. Lucy’s core inquiry here is to navigate how both comfort and discomfort co-exist and often show up simultaneously. This image scollection is an exhibition of perfectionism and the supposed comfort and control that comes along with that.
Lucy is fascinated by the laying of a table and the ‘rules’ of arrangement. To her, this brings along feeling of discomfort - things that shouldn’t be touched, plates and glassware that could easily be broken, tablecloths to be stained. Despite this, the meticulous arranging and routine is exactly the kind of obsessive behaviour she herself would perform to make her own environment feel comfortable and safe. Everything has a place and it absolutely needs to be in it.
The tape on the tablecloth represents rules and discomfort and the messiness of the meal being shared intentionally breaks these rules and rebels against structure. Exhibited in the images is Lucy’s handmade dinnerware, incorporated to reinforce the theme of breakables and things that shouldn’t be touched.
Lucy shot these images both digitally and using 35mm film.
Special thanks to Gillian Garduño Zesati and Scarlet Tilford for
their modelling, technical assistance, and endless kindness.
Lucy is fascinated by the laying of a table and the ‘rules’ of arrangement. To her, this brings along feeling of discomfort - things that shouldn’t be touched, plates and glassware that could easily be broken, tablecloths to be stained. Despite this, the meticulous arranging and routine is exactly the kind of obsessive behaviour she herself would perform to make her own environment feel comfortable and safe. Everything has a place and it absolutely needs to be in it.
The tape on the tablecloth represents rules and discomfort and the messiness of the meal being shared intentionally breaks these rules and rebels against structure. Exhibited in the images is Lucy’s handmade dinnerware, incorporated to reinforce the theme of breakables and things that shouldn’t be touched.
Lucy shot these images both digitally and using 35mm film.
Special thanks to Gillian Garduño Zesati and Scarlet Tilford for
their modelling, technical assistance, and endless kindness.