‘Publish and be damned’

Installation for The New Craftsmen’s Made of Mayfair exhibition for London Craft Week, 2015.

‘Publish and be damned’ is a work in blue satin on pink washed silk and references the Duke of Wellington’s response to Harriette Wilson ( a famed Regency courtesan) when she threatened to  blackmail him.  The script is a precise replica of his handwriting, repeatedly practiced, enlarged and then hand cut with tiny scissors and scalpel and sealed onto silk.  An extract from one of Harriette’s letters, written in French and its envelope are hand stitched (mimicking her handwriting accurately) onto paper silk.