The Pangolin Shield

Inspired by the world’s most trafficked mammal, whose scales cover their bodies from head to tail, The Pangolin Shield encourages visitors to reflect and examine the relationship between context, innovation and craft. The Pangolin Shield consists of a bamboo grid shell covered with traditional Indian police shields made from 'lathis', and woven rain shields or ‘knups’ traditionally used by farmers in north-eastern India. Layered atop the structure like scales, the various shields are reassembled as a protective canopy, playing with light and shade whilst providing collective shelter. By removing the police shields from their context of confrontation and state authority and bringing them in a functional symbiosis with the 'knups', the installation aims to disarm emblems of aggression to encourage rest and dialogue, empathy and community. Located on a pedestrianised street in the West End, the structure turns to face the bust of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, situated outside the country's High Commission. By establishing this spatial axis, the pavilion encourages reflection on colonial legacies, power, ecological exploitation, and the movement of people and beings across borders.