HISTORY PAINTING CONTEMPORISED
History Painting an End to War 2023.
Documentary photograph of Prototype 2, a performance at Petitou, Peckham.
History Painting an End to War 2023.
Documentary photograph of the final scene of Prototype 2, performed at Petitou, Peckham.
Soft Apocalypse 2022.
Documentary photographs of Prototype 1, an interactive and participatory performance at Space Clarence Mews.
Killing You Softly 2023.
Documentary photographs of Prototype 3, an open rehearsal at Space Clarence Mews.
Documentary image of rehearsal at Space Clarence Mews 2023,
during a year long residency for performance makers.
Costumes and props laid out at Space Clarence Mews 2022.
Documentary photographs of rehearsals at Space Clarence Mews 2022.
The Sovereign Individual at Bell House 2024.
Photograph © Sarah Sparks.
A one-act tale of an unlikeable protagonist and their search for power that leads to devastating war. Money in hand and blood running through her fingers – what must happen to make her accept culpability? Exploring the fine line between oppressor and oppressed, and decisions made when we are hungry.
As many states modernise their nuclear arsenals, this picture event, in the field of fine art and protest, is in opposition to the arms economy and permanent war.
Immersive, participatory, and interactive, it contemporises the problematic genre of history painting as a space for action. With some singing and dancing. If we are to change the world, we must do what we are afraid of – and act.
Painting, sculpture, and theatre converge. Arranged as series of tableaux vivants, each scene is meticulously crafted and choreographed. Mixing history, current affairs, fact, fiction, and personal biography, the work is politically and symbolically rich and captivating. The composition a deliberate nod to the visual aesthetics of the revolutionary painting of the Romantic era and the lure of Orientalism and the South Pacific. The propaganda present in history panting is subverted, and a multilinear narrative is used, narratives intertwine and entangle and the characters cross gender lines.
Depicting life’s struggle, the audience journeys by sea to a familiar though far way island, and events unfold. To begin a character emerges from body bag, wearing an oversize arctic duffle coat: my father was in the Arctic Convoys in WWII. A sailor becomes an atomic beach babe wearing a 1940s bikini (think Bikini Atoll and the South Pacific nuclear test sites), who becomes a worker, sweeping up the ash of a nuclear explosion, remembering a grampa’s experience of Hiroshima. Thinking about gendered labour and the role of ordinary people in war and the everyday domestic support of atrocity; the violence of the domestic setting; women and girls living in a war zone.
The character encounters a fairy tale dress, symbolic of monarchy, state, and cultural capital. For working hard and supporting the system, she acquires the dress, believing she will be better able to operate in its society. She becomes a queen and arms dealer, her privilege only made possible by the oppression of others. The audience travel from rags to riches, hunger to autarky, through class struggle, riot, revolt, civil war, overthrow.
From colonial to financial empire, capitalist ruins and bankers’ architecture: the torso of a classical sculpture, Doric columns, and capitols – the trappings of power given the duality of being a toy. Impotent, disarmed. A fairytale dress, a landmine shaped handbag, M4 tanks, AK47s, 20m of barbed wire, a shield, B21 stealth bomber, a dead body, a reusable body bag, 1940s style bikini, tropical flowers, a broom, banners, bricks, revolutionary flag – all hand sewn.
Everything is made out of canvas. The canvas is important for its origins in sail cloth and the artist’s support. Left blank to accept the projection of the audience’s imagination and our own experience. The environment is soft and uncanny, in contrast to our increasingly technologically mediated and violent relationships. The making of which, freed from the confines of the domestic setting often associated with lowly craft and elevated to the highest genre.
There is no spoken language. Only body language, dramaturgy and choreography that is universally understood. Much of the narrative is provided by the soundscape, an original composition designed by Joseph Day
Live participation is gentle. A beach ball breaks through the fourth wall, passed backwards and forwards to each audience member. Remember that Tony Blair selfie – you are encouraged to take a selfie using your smart phone. Sharing online helps make the work.
Entering the performance each person is given a random number. At the end their number is called. Will they or won’t they survive the encounter? Not everyone does.
The content of this artwork is sensitive. It explores physical, emotional, societal, and intellectual boundaries.
A variety of performances are be made, including giving the audience exploratory time within the installed work before and after the performance.
Staged in the round on the floor, with several objects hanging and bright floor-based lighting. The audience sitting or standing.
Designed to be installed and performed in a physical space, and simultaneously live streamed. The performance lasts 35 mins.
Since 2026, I have been manufacturing and the selling arms. They can’t hurt anyone. You can see some of them in more detail here.