Tales of Blunt Blades 

Year: 2021

Medium: Publication. A5 Paperback of short stories about 43 selected blades by creative writers. First print of 1000 copies

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Exhibition: Blunt Blades, November 2021 – November 2022. The Higgins Bedford. Bedford. UK. This exhibition is realised with the support of The Higgins Bedford, Bedford Borough Council and Arts Council England.

SEE ONLINE PUBLICATION HERE

Tales of Blunt Blades (2021) is an artist book featuring short stories, poems and comics about a selection of 43 blades from the social history collection at The Higgins Bedford. From 2019 – 2021, Lebrusan invited creative writers and the public to pen new histories for the selected blades. Through this, Lebrusan endeavoured to amplify the voices of individuals with a story to tell while encouraging them to consider the varied roles knives in our everyday lives.

ABOUT BLUNT BLADES. THE EXHIBITION

Often provocative, artist Arabel Lebrusan engages with material culture and the feminine tactile environment, looking into wider issues of power relationships, exploitation and inequality. Blunt Blades extends Lebrusan’s study on material culture, exploring our complex relationships with knives and their varied roles. Blunt Blades began in 2013 when Bedfordshire Police gave the artist 3 crates of confiscated knives and other artefacts. Transforming the metal from these confiscated objects into works that could evoke other emotions, the display examines the ways materials carry inherent meanings and how those meanings can be reshaped. Lebrusan’s artworks, in their myriad forms, do not offer answers to the many issues they raise. Instead, they invite contemplation about object materiality, production of meanings and our shared humanity.

View online exhibition