British Embassy

We were invited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2006 to commission art for the British Embassy in Sana’a in the Yemen. The building itself was developed by Design Engine Architects who, with the Government Art Collection, agreed a suitable public location inside the building for a new sculpture.

Jenny West One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty to Zero, 2006 Stainless steel, nylon and acrylic resin. Detail. Photo: courtesy the artist

One Thousand Four Hundred and Forty to Zero, an installation by Jenny West, was commissioned for the public atrium of the purpose-built embassy. Taking her inspiration from a visit to the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada, West decided to work with a single repeated motif.

View from underneath. Photo: courtesy the artist

In previous works West had used domestic objects, such as kitchen utensils, to create large installations. In this instance her early engagement with the architects and designers, as well as inspiration gained from shapes found in Islamic culture, resulted in her choice of a ‘plumb bob’ as her starting point. The sculpture, made from stainless steel, nylon and acrylic, is a sensitive and subtle response to the space and light within the building. Made up of 1440 hand-turned ‘plumb bobs’ suspended in 36 stepped rows of 40, the work took the artist and an assistant nine days to install.

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