Clydebank 2 - International Asbestos Memorial
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KNOWN AND UNKOWN is a stainless steel sculpture, designed as an International Asbestos Memorial to remember all those individuals whose lives have been taken by the effects of asbestos. Over time, seven hundred and fifty names of local Clydebank people will be etched into the reflective polished surfaces, representing the known while the brushed stainless steel surfaces will be left blank, un-etched, in recognition of the hundreds of thousands of unknown people around the globe who have been killed by asbestos related illnesses but who are either unacknowledged and/or unidentified. More names will be engraved on the sculpture on International Workers Memorial Day each year.
Clydebank, is home of the Scottish shipbuilding industry that claimed the lives of so many workers due to the widespread use of asbestos in previous decades. Clydebank is known to be the worst affected area for Mesothelioma in the UK.
Mesothelioma is an untreatable form of cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, and is caused by exposure to asbestos. With more than 2,000 deaths occurring every year in the UK, it still poses a significant risk to those who comes into contact with asbestos.
The memorial takes the form of a perfect cube, segmented into five equal sections, spaced equidistant apart and positioned at forty five degrees to the road line. The properties of a cube are such that each corner is at 90 degrees and all sides are square, therefore all is square, true and correct. When viewed from either end the memorial appears as a single square section, but when viewed from off centre the five sections appear lined up one after the other as if descending into the past or reaching into the future, capturing the facts that the actions of the past are still being felt today, with tragic consequences, and will continue to be felt on an increasing scale well in to the future, with more and more victims of asbestos being identified, as more and more people continue to be exploited in the mining and use of asbestos around the world.
The memorial appears, when viewed from either end, to be relatively small, but when viewed from either side the full size of the memorial is revealed, this is representative of how the asbestos problem is general perceived today, to be small, but how it is in fact a massive and increasing global problem.
The four spaces between the five segments, each representing a decade, collectively represent the forty years it take for asbestos to take a life after it has been inhaled into the lungs.
The positioning of the five segments at forty-five degrees to the road line creates a dynamic visual effect where the memorial visually opens and closes when it is viewed from a passing vehicles or when walked around. The opening and closing is symbolic of the opening and closing of the lungs, the inhale and exhale of the breathing process. The memorial is calling for all people to be able to breathe clean air and to live, learn, love and work in a healthy environment which is safe for every individual.
The choice of material, stainless steel, makes a direct reference and connection to shipbuilding, Clydebank's proud past, and an industry where asbestos was commonly use to lag the pipes and line boilers. The bright and mirror polished finish of the memorial are a statement of Clydebank's commitment of a bright and dynamic future.
Asbestos could soon outstrip motor accidents as a cause of premature death in Britain. It has been empirically confirmed by respected academics that the Clydebank area has the highest percentage of asbestos-related disease per head of population, certainly in the UK by a large measure and probably throughout Europe.
In Great Britain it is estimated that in each and every year 10,000 workers die a slow and painful death from the effects of an industrial disease.
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