ARTWORK DETAILS
David Aston
The Good ship humanity
Antique c 1900 pond yacht with metal hull and silk honour the human, honour the humane sails
77H x 91 W x 50 D 15 cm
2020
“A beautiful hand written rendition of “honour the human, honour the humane”. hand written by a ten year old as part of his daily studies many times across four different copybooks between 1851-2. ”
FURTHER DETAILS
As part of the research for my Attest you are human series I have been researching early written references to the word human. According to the dictionary the word human comes from the latin humanus (man, human being), humane in french or human in english. Human is described as “relating to or characteristic of humankind” or “characteristic of people as opposed to god or animals or machines”. Humane is described as “having or showing compassion or benevolence”, one of the more beautiful qualities of humanity.
I found a reference to both human and humane in an unlikely and early place - a set of victorian educational copybooks from 1851-2. A beautiful hand written rendition of “honour the human, honour the humane”. The maxim was hand written by a ten year old as part of his daily studies and was written many times across four different copybooks between 1851-2.
Nearly 170 years on, in an age where we increasingly question what it means to be both human and humane, the maxim feels more relevant than ever.
I explored various options for incorporating the maxim into my attest you are human series, initially printing it on silk, the perfect medium for such a fine message, and mounted it on canvas (this version was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, see below).
Inside one of the copy books I found a drawing of a 19th century sail ship, a motif common in other copy books of the period. This find inspired “The good ship humanity”, an antique pond yacht with hand stitched honour the human, honour the humane silk sails. The good ship acts as the perfect vessel for the maxim on it’s passage though time.
EXHIBITIONS
2020 - Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition: https://www.rsaannualexhibition.org/artists/90-david-aston/works/
2020 - Royal West of England Academy (RWA) Open Exhibition https://www.rwa.org.uk/collections/events/products/rwa-168-annual-open-exhibition
2020 - ING Discerning Eye Exhibition:
https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/jo-baring
2020 - The London Group Open
A larger, full-size version of the good ship humanity was to be exhibited at the Valley of vision exhibition with the London Group in June-July 2020 but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.