THE WICKER ARMS

I made this work for an exhibition that I was invited to be in by the curatorial platforms ha.lf and the icing room .

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The show is called THE WICKER ARMS and is "a folk horror inspired pub hosted by @staffordshirest as part of their Festival of Community. It materially explores ideas around community, through which we refocus narratives of belonging. The suggestion of folk horror adds an edge to this narrative, where alternative realities creep to the surface, as a possible manifestation of a collective (un)conscious. Indeed, folk horror invites us to reimagine the pub, upend its more traditional associations, and reclaim it as a third space."

e bell

I was moved to make some 'sacred' whistles and bells to protect the pub, inspired both by Onigawara or Oni Dorei bells from Japan and European romanesque carvings. The bells that inspired me are double faced with an Oni on one side to scare away bad spirits and a goddess on the other to protect your home. Visitors to the Wicker Arms will be invited to ring the bells for protection as they enter the pub.

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At the bar there will be a huge bell that the proprietor will ring to signal last orders. This is covered in faces, perhaps those of past customers, whose spirits still prop up the bar.

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In the fireplace there will be my version of a traditional 18th century English whistle, found in farmhouse fireplaces across the North. Apparently these whistles, made by the female relatives of country potters, were placed in recesses in the fireplace during a storm, allowing the gusts of wind to blow the whistles and scare away bad spirits.