ABSTRACT
The Cerberus Helmet Project is a clay-based project where “unserviceable” helmets are used as drape moulds to create functional artwork. Art-forms may serve as non-verbal vessels of intentional and non-intentional language of human experience and identity. The objective is to create servingware that has been informed by the helmet in any manner, reflecting individual desires of colour, shape, and function. The method involves helmet and cone 6 stoneware clay body selection, and subsequent hand-creation of clay slabs for drape-forming work to produce a functional artform. While active or retired military members and first responders may attend studio projects to represent themselves, those silenced by death or institution, cannot. A responsibility exists to represent the vast differences of serviceperson experiences and identities; this is feasible through artistic interpretation of emerging topics in domestic and international defence research and policy. This “Feast of Wisdom” Helmet was created to honour soldiers whose experiences differ from white heteronormativity, a visual representation of the meaning of the intersections of race, gender, and sexual identities upon the symbolic helmet.
