Jo Lawrence - Making Glover

Jo Lawrence was Digital Media Resident at the V&A between July and December 2008. During her residency Jo used the V&A collections as inspiration for her work.

Glover is a glove maker whose story is told in a stop-frame animation. Glover's story was inspired by the fusion of two sources of inspiration from the V&A's vast collection: a reproduction of the Ebstorf Map and a pair of ornate leather and satin gloves (1600).

The Ebstorf map is a representation of the medieval view of the world in 1300. It appears to introduce a fourth continent on the periphery, Terra Incognita, the unknown world, inhabited by imaginary creatures, such as gigantipedes, monopods and nose-less men.

Similarly the 'glovecreatures' in Glover's interior world are a departure from the familiar, known and safe world of his workshop. Glover's journey takes him to the furthest reaches of his imagination, Terra Chirotheca , or Gloveland. It is a place of both horror and delight, where he meets a series of strange hybrids that are part beast or human and part glove.

Glover has been shortlisted for the Short Film category of the British Animation Awards 2010, and selected for the Public Choice Award. It will be screened at 27 venues across the UK during 2010.

Glover © Jo Lawrence 2010. With kind permission of the artist.