Flags

 I have been playing around with the lion and unicorn idea for a while now. Originally I was thinking of making a Victorian style merry go round print featuring these creatures but as the project progressed this didn't feel a good fit.

I made lino carvings of the  creatures, more simplified and experimented with these. My favourite results were not the actual prints I made but using them to make graphite rubbings as it fitted with all the work I had done so far. From taking the graphite rubbings from the graves to make my apron, it seemed fitting to use that same process only this time with something Id made.

I've also been experimenting with gold leaf on fabric and i love the way it cracks and crumbles and moulds itself into the fabric. there is a lot of gold on the sculptures but instead of doing a straight likeness I wanted to add gold as a background, that the fabric was made from an aged gold combined with the purity of the white. really the colours scheme is representative of my whole theme of sacred spaces,.

The church features hanging flags inside and I wanted to give an idea of this with my work. The church flags are masculine in theme, territorial, war/ army, king and country. I wanted my flags to be light and feminine, a ghost of this very dominating male energy. The lion and unicorn statues are also very masculine in what they represent, power and domination. My flag has feminised them, I feel like they are fairy tale characters, reoccurring themes of power and ownership. from folk tales, to fairy tales to bible tales.

My other flag features a graphite rubbing from the lino block I made in the image of myself in character as "Mary" collecting names for the apron. Its an intuitive, fictional response of me writing this character into the sacred space I'm trying to create as my installation. A white flag as a way to surrender, a signal of peace.

Nottingham Coat of arms in st Marys

"God, King, Country"

Lion and unicorn statues 

my wife/Mary flag

my lion and unicorn flag

god king country flag in st marys

A white flag displayed during the ottoman surrender of Jerusalem to the British 1917

"Liberty Leading the people" Eugene Delacroix 1830

"Surrender of Lord Cornwallis" John Trumbull 1826

Looking at art works featuring flags, mainly scenes of war/ victory. The only woman waving a flag is the fictional "liberty" .

also the appearance of hoses bringing to mind the unicorn statue. The work I'm making is playing around with and repurposing these symbols, I'm trying to interweave these elements to create a sacred, peaceful space