Trash can

The black trash can in Superkilen comes from the little town of Gretna, within a stone’s throw of the boundary between Scotland and England. For more than 200 years, the parish of Gretna Green — located by the biggest town Gretna — has held a special status as a romantic wedding destination within English culture. Ever since Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753 prohibiting young people of less than 21 years of age to marry without parental consent, English couples have crossed the Anglo-Scottish boundary in order to marry in Gretna Green. The Act did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 years old. The laissez-faire Scottish marriage legislation only required two witnesses, and practically anyone could conduct the ceremony. Following with Gretna Green’s tradition, the blacksmith was usually the one conducting the ceremony. And even though the Act was repealed in 1849, thousands of English couples still travel to Gretna Green to get married in front of the old anvil of the blacksmith’s shop.