Posted on August 13th, 2014 by Jane Fairhurst

I started making objects based on ethnographic artifacts in 2010 although, thinking back, I have been doing so on and off since my interest was aroused after my first visit to Liverpool Museum as a young child. Whilst I enjoy art galleries, museums have always held more of a fascination for me.

Initially my interest was sparked by Sheila Paine’s book ‘Amulets-A World of Secret Powers, Charms and Magic’ which I bought at Manchester Museum in 2008. A world expert on tribal societies and  their textiles I found the objects in her book visually exciting and the discovery of contemporary amuletic objects for sale in bazaars in Turkey set me thinking about the role of such objects in contemporary society. This in turn has led me to begin researching the origins of amuletic and votive objects from pre-history through paganism to current religious belief systems.

Here are some images of what I have been making and my latest book purchase ‘The Language of the Goddess’, a fascinating read by the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas.