Emlyn’s Spoon [Ash], Wendy Leah Dawson, 2020

Lockdown happened for everyone, and it was indescribable. We didn’t know what lockdown meant, or how long it would last, we didn’t know what we were allowed to do and where we could go, so home became the focus. This is when I realised that home was a place that I tended to avoid during the day, choosing in preference to take Emlyn out and away from the house, out for walks, for visits and to run errands. Home needed to work, so the garden needed to have fences and gates, places where Em could be safe, surfaces he could fall on without hurting himself. I didn’t have my tools or my workbench, I missed making things in the way I would have done in metal, so I started making things with a knife and wood off-cuts. Emlyn was learning words, so I would make what he could say - tree… star… spoon… car. This is Emlyn’s spoon.