Ramoutsaki, Helen, and Guthrie, Anna (2023) I am not greedy but I like to share a lot: ceramic/textual set of drinking vessels and pot. [Creative Work]

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Abstract

An oversized teacup from the 1950s (T.G. Green & Co. Ltd., Church Gresley, England) bears the motto, “I am not greedy … but I like a lot”, creating an ironic materialised metaphor for conspicuous consumption and relative privilege. Considering the need for sustainable consumption and production, given the environmental footprint of people in higher-income countries with high levels of food wastage (United Nations: 2023), this 2023 ceramic/textual artwork subverts the original "I am not greedy" meme with a new form of the materialised metaphor that encourages ethical social and environmental practices. While the “I am not greedy but I like a lot” motto is used in series on the outside of the set of five recursively nesting cups, it also combines with text inside the cups to read: “I am being mindful, not greedy, in consuming, but open to serving with heart, I like to share a lot with others”. Through their images and sculptural forms, the cups and pot point to ecosystem regeneration in home gardening practices.

Research Statement

Research Background	Ceramic ware with textual inscriptions has been associated with commerce and consumption for thousands of years, from cuneiform business accounts on clay tablets to drinking and libations vessels “inscribed with all sorts of wordplay, jokes, sayings, proverbs, and morals” (Mathieu: 2007). Following this tradition, the epigram “I am not greedy, but I like a lot” was used on oversized teacups in Victorian England from at least 1897 (Auckland Star: 1897), signifying the conspicuous consumption of the era. The use of cups as a metaphor for consumption builds on Anna Guthrie’s 2022 “Not My Cup of Tea” ceramic installation, a teacup and saucer containing a toxic sludge and a bird skeleton which acts as a metaphor for the lifestyle choices that create overdevelopment in endangered Eastern Curlew habitat (Guthrie: 2023).
Research Contribution	This set of artefacts is a collaborative creative-practice embedded research output, incorporating historical, natural history, social and environmental perspectives through poetic, visual art, ceramic and regenerative home gardening processes.
Research Significance	The work is incorporated into a video montage for the spoken-word rap performance “MC Nannarchy’s Nannacocoa Eco-No-Mix” (Ramoutsaki: 2023). A stop-motion clip shows the recursive effect of the nested cups in action as, full of cocoa, they are pulled up one by one to reveal the relative portion sizes and the text on the cups. This sequence will feature in a fully digital version of the performance, to be made available online. The ceramic/textual work will be offered for exhibition with artists’ statements.
Item ID:	82530
Item Type:	Creative Work (Original Work - Other - NTRO)
Media of Output:	Ceramic with text, images and sculptural forms
Keywords:	Creative practice-embedded research; ceramic art;textual art; ceramic/textual art;over-consumption; sustainable living; regenerative gardening;voluntary simplicity; wasteful consumerism; frugality;environmental ethics; social ethics
Copyright Information:	Copyright © Helen Ramoutsaki & Anna Guthrie 2023.
Date Deposited:	20 May 2024 04:53
FoR Codes:	22 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES > 2203 Philosophy > 220303 Environmental Philosophy @ 34% 36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3606 Visual arts > 360601 Crafts @ 33% 36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3602 Creative and professional writing > 360201 Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting) @ 33%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1303 Ethics > 130303 Environmental ethics @ 50% 13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1301 Arts > 130103 The creative arts @ 50%
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