Shelf Life

About

“A leaf, a gourd, a shell, a net, a bag, a sling, a sack, a bottle, a pot, a box, a container. A holder. A recipient.” In her 1986 text, The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin deconstructs the idea of the singular, masculine, weapon-yielding “Hero” as the core of history. Instead, she puts forward the theory that the earliest cultural inventions were containers that held gathered items, quietly, subtly supporting life. Containers, Le Guin posits, are not merely passive vessels but active participants in the circulation of goods and ideas – spaces for accumulation and transformation. 

Shelf Life is an exhibition by students from BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation, Central Saint Martins, in partnership with the Camden Art Collection. Alongside and in dialogue with a selection of still life paintings from the Collection by artists including David Hockney, Robert Macbryde, Rigmor Hansen, Leonard Applebee, Daphne Sandham, and Martin Fidler, the exhibition features commissioned artwork by Ela Kazdal and Matthew Dardart. Composed of objects commonly found in local markets, such as packaging crates and cardboard boxes, these new works subvert and reimagine the traditional still life genre, transforming everyday items into dynamic, three-dimensional pieces that capture and reflect the current precarious yet persistent communal energy of Camden’s local, council-supported markets and the objects that uphold them.

Planned developments throughout the borough that put public space used for traders under threat, and a diminishing number of shoppers, has meant that Camden’s local markets are at risk of vanishing. These markets are not just places of commerce – they are sources of familiar foods, community connection, and cultural continuity for those who call London home. As Le Guin reminds us, the vessel is more than a container; it becomes a symbol of collection, containment, and transformation. Through this lens, the market, the still life vase, even the cardboard box, are reimagined not as passive backdrops or static objects, but as participants in the narrative of daily life – active carriers of overlooked stories, traditions, and the subtle textures of everyday existence.

The sculptural presence, visual motifs, and materials centred in the commissioned work express that the mundane, ephemeral, and cheap are just as worthy of artistic exploration, attention, and appreciation as the archived and timeless. In his sculpture, Matthew Dardart explores themes of transformation, mythology, and materiality, inviting consideration of how objects carry histories and how myths persist despite shifting cultural contexts. His work, constructed from cardboard sourced exclusively from local Camden markets, directly references an Egyptian sarcophagus-turned-bathtub, once described as a floating basin that transported people across the Nile, then as a ritual bath, then as holding supernatural markets where food would mysteriously turn into gold. Dardart plays with the legacy of appropriation and reinterpretation of this vessel, at once mundane and sacred. 

Meanwhile, Ela’s sculpture – composed of a tower of plastic crates – serves as both a sculptural framework and a display mechanism for a video piece. This footage, captured on her iPhone at various Camden markets, mimics still life imagery to document goods on sale and damaged, discarded fruit in the surrounding area, emphasising cycles of urban consumption and decay and the overlooked vestiges of commercial exchange. This piece reflects on the poetic and political dimensions of everyday materials: what is preserved and what is discarded, what is still and what can never remain so. 

Alongside the use of materials and footage from local markets, the exhibition facilitates discussion and critical dialogue around their uncertain future. Still Life’s event programme supports the recent strikes opposing the proposed developments that threaten the Swiss Cottage Farmers’ Market on Eton Avenue. The programme includes fundraising initiatives to support the cause, as well as panel discussions featuring residents, traders, artists, journalists, and activists, conversations enriched by statistical data and personal testimonies that speak to the broader pattern of market closures. 

Shelf Life runs from 16th April until 29th May, 2025, at Swiss Cottage Gallery, 88 Avenue Road, London, NW3 3HA. For further information, please contact press@vessel15collective.co.uk.

Eʟᴀ Kᴀᴢᴅᴀʟ (b. 2001, Istanbul) is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the intersection of materiality, image, and personal history. Her practice draws from memories and cultural references, with a focus on personal and collective archives. Her work engages with the dual nature of moving images as both physical objects and projected experiences, with the translation of images between two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. Primarily working with 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm film, Ela integrates contemporary technology to push the boundaries of the film strip. Using tools like laser cutting and UV printing and software such as Adobe and Runway, she creates analogue-digital hybrids that encourage a dialogue between past and present, material and film. Ela’s work has appeared in various exhibitions, including Aurora Instinct with Display Fever, Hypha Studios, London (2025); 3x3 Short Film Programme, Beyoğlu Cinema, and Art Talk with Enes Albs, Bilsart, Istanbul (2024); In Days Of Heatwave, hARTSlane and Odd Seeds, Greatorex Street, London (2023); 4th Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, Istanbul (2022); and The Creation of the World, the Now, the End, Æden, Berlin (2022). Upcoming show include Cosmic Rays, North Carolina (2025) and Xposure Queer Film Festival, Berlin (2025). Ela graduated with a degree in BA (Hons) Fine Art with Creative Computing from Central Saint Martins and is currently Junior Video Editor at MUBI. 

Mᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴡ Dᴀʀᴅᴀʀᴛ (b. 1999, London) is a sculptor interested in the dialogue between contrasting materials within a single form. His sculptures emerge through an intuitive process, often resulting in collage-like structures that feel fragmented, layered, yet innately whole. Matthew is increasingly drawn to incorporating manufactured objects in his work, seeing these elements as carriers of meaning and markers of material culture. Through his unconventional methods and materials, he seeks to create sculptures that invite curiosity and suspend preconceptions, offering spaces for open interpretation and new ways of seeing. Through the integration of found objects, Matthew’s practice challenges their function and recontextualises their presence within a sculptural setting. Matthew has presented work in various exhibitions, including Able-Graphy*, Broadworks, and 20 Years of The Muse Residency Program, The Muse Gallery, London (2024); Shapes and Things, AMP Studios, London (2023); CRAWL SPACE with Fresh Salad, The Crypt Gallery, London (2023); Mother! Phoenix Art Space, Brighton (2022); and JUICEBOX with Fresh Salad, RuptureXIBIT, Kingston upon Thames (2022). He holds a BA (Hons) Fine Art: Sculpture degree from University of Brighton and was Artist in Residence at The Muse Gallery, London in 2023.