This piece is about the ridiculousness of the monarchy, and how it was built on the backs of working people, and how my feminism is conflicted by three privileged and powerful leaders. The class system, inherited wealth and the common-wealth, it’s about that too. It’s also about Usain Bolt’s orange shoes being worth 20k, and him not being able to catch the person in Croydon who ran off with them. I tried various legs on Elizabeth, Sly Stone’s were made to measure. I need to credit my husband, who came up with ‘Family Affair’.
61. Family Affair
Hand-stitched paper to tea towel
37 x 31cm unframed, 46 x 41cm framed (by The Framing Room)
Queen Elizabeth II with Charles and Anne Balmoral, 28th September 1952. Bromide Print, NPG 1616. Photo by Lisa Sheridan (mother of Dinah Sheridan* and grandmother of Jenny Hanley, Magpie presenter). Cut from Coronation Souvenir. Printed by LTA Robinson Ltd, London. *I have a soft spot for Dinah Sheridan, in that she is in one of the most joyous film moments of all time. The bit in The Railway Children where they have apple pie for breakfast.
Queen Victoria Alexander Bassano 1887 (1882). NPG x8753. For Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Cut from Kings and Queens by Ronald Pearsall, Tiger Books 1986.
Queen Elizabeth I c1588. Unknown artist. N. Looks like a copy of the Armada Portrait. Cut from Heritage of Britain, Reader’s Digest 1975.
Trousers of Sly Stone, Frank Driggs Collection. Cut from Rock Stars by Timothy White. Columbus Books, 29 Elmfield Road, Bromley, 1984.
Large Feet belong to Usain Bolt. Cut from the i newspaper (16.4.22). Photographer uncredited. The orange Puma running shoes (worth £20k, according to the BBC) were stolen in London in 2014.
Small Feet and Hand belong to Prince William (red shoes) and Prince Harry (blue shoes and hand) Majorca 1987. Photo by Jayne Fincher. Cut from William, The People’s Prince by Ian Lloyd, Pavilion 2003.
Family Affair will be part of the ING Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries, from 17th - 26th November. All works are for sale, and continue to be so online until 31st December.
Please note that I do not reproduce physical images to stitch, but use already printed materials. The paper comes from discarded books, newspapers, magazines, calendars and the like. Most of the books I cut are beyond repair, the rest are beyond my respect.
