SPAM

Emily Crook

Introduction

SPAM presents a series of photographs of a collection of objects. At a first glance, the choice of items within the collection may appear obscure, however it is through the text that follows alongside each image that a link between one object to the next is created.

This book questions the idea of a collection as a group of alike objects, and explores how disparate objects can be related in some way.

SPAM is a popular canned meat, consisting of a pork and ham mix. The record for the most SPAM eaten is held by Richard LeFevre, who consumed 6 pounds in 12 minutes. He is nicknamed “The Locust”.

The Locust can jump 70 centimetres. The human equivalent of this distance would be 18 metres, the length of two double decker buses.

A popular payment method on London buses is the Oyster Card, named after the mollusc found throughout the world’s oceans. Oysters produce pearls, which have been considered gemstones and objects of beauty for centuries.

Pearls are often referred to in the metaphor, ‘pearly whites’, describing a clean, healthy set of teeth. Calcium is an important mineral in assisting healthy teeth, and can be found in dairy foods such as cheese.

Cheese is commonly used as a bait to catch mice. A house mouse can fit through a gap as small as the diameter of a standard pencil.

Unlike most mark-making tools, pencil can be removed with the use of an eraser, or rubber. The term ‘rubber’ is also used as slang for a latex condom.

Condoms have been sold in public toilet vending machines since 1928. The first reference to a vending machine is in the work of Hero of Alexandria, a first-century engineer. His machine accepted a coin, and would dispense holy water.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

The receptacle in which Holy water is kept is called a font. The word ‘font’ is also used in typography, meaning the complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface, for example ‘Gill Sans - Itallic, 48pt’.

The Gill Sans typeface was created in 1926 by Edward Gill, and was inspired by the ‘Johnston’ typeface, used on the London Underground. The London Underground was once nicknamed the ‘Twopenny Tube’, for its flat fare and cylindrical tunnels.

Copper coins are often collected inside a ‘Piggy bank’. This name refers to a Middle English word for a type of clay from which storage jars were made called “pygg”. Nevertheless, the shape of traditional piggy banks have, over time, taken the form of the Pig.

Pig’s meat is popular across the world. It can be combined with flavourings and preservatives, cooked under vacuum pressure and canned, to be sold as SPAM.

SPAM - A 200g can of Spam, a popular luncheon meat around the world.Buses - The number 436 and number 88 buses, Vauxhall Bridge Road.Pearls - Double row freshwater pearl necklace, design by Lido Pearls.Cheese - Shelves in the back room at Rippon Cheese Stores, Pimlico.Pencil - A traditional HB pencil.Condom - A Durex ‘extra-safe’ condom.Holy water - Font at the entrance of Westminster Cathedral.Gill Sans - Itallic, 48pt - part of a typeface designed by Edward GillTwo Pence - A two pence coin, from 2002.Pig - A ‘Kune Kune’ pig named Jenny, at Vauxhall City Farm.

All photographs by Emily Crook.