Thirty Pieces of Silver, Cornelia Parker

‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ was commissioned by Ikon Gallery, Birmingham and first exhibited in November 1988 to January 1989, before being shown at Aspex in 1989. 

Parker collected pieces of domestic silver-plate for many years (consisting of candlestick holders, cake stands, cutlery, trophies, musical instruments etc) which she then transformed for ‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ by flattening them with a steam-roller, ultimately changing their value to be each the same. The process was documented with black and white photographs by Edward Woodman.

Want to find out more? Read Les Buckingham’s story about the exhibition by clicking here.