Nine Worthies
Jesmonite, pigment, oak
Nine architectural niches stand and face each other, inviting the viewer to enter the circle. On the interior of each is a relief cast from topographical imagery of the nine traditional planets of our solar system: Pluto, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Uranus. Perhaps a relic of a bygone civilisation, the standing figures hint at a ritualistic purpose devoted to astronomical landscapes, as in menhirs of prehistory.
The title Nine Worthies derives from a canon of nine historical personages believed to personify the ideals of chivalry, first recorded in the fourteenth century in Jacques de Longuyon’s Voeux du Paon. Alternative Worthies including a group of nine worthy women, Les Neuf Preuses, were later created, with tapestries and paintings often depicting the nine male and female Worthies together, and the selection of Worthies varying depending on the context.
In recent years, there has been some debate over whether Pluto is worthy of planethood, with the International Astronomical Union creating a definition of a planet that demoted Pluto and others to the status of ‘dwarf planet’. Some scientists have argued that a planet should be defined by its distinctive features and geological properties, such as mountains, oceans and atmosphere.
Nine Worthies considers different forms of veneration, the human impulse for classification and the desire for timelessness.
Jesmonite, pigment, oak
Nine architectural niches stand and face each other, inviting the viewer to enter the circle. On the interior of each is a relief cast from topographical imagery of the nine traditional planets of our solar system: Pluto, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Uranus. Perhaps a relic of a bygone civilisation, the standing figures hint at a ritualistic purpose devoted to astronomical landscapes, as in menhirs of prehistory.
The title Nine Worthies derives from a canon of nine historical personages believed to personify the ideals of chivalry, first recorded in the fourteenth century in Jacques de Longuyon’s Voeux du Paon. Alternative Worthies including a group of nine worthy women, Les Neuf Preuses, were later created, with tapestries and paintings often depicting the nine male and female Worthies together, and the selection of Worthies varying depending on the context.
In recent years, there has been some debate over whether Pluto is worthy of planethood, with the International Astronomical Union creating a definition of a planet that demoted Pluto and others to the status of ‘dwarf planet’. Some scientists have argued that a planet should be defined by its distinctive features and geological properties, such as mountains, oceans and atmosphere.
Nine Worthies considers different forms of veneration, the human impulse for classification and the desire for timelessness.
