Smoked 

 

The title  “.. as long as she can disguise her will and use her eyes then all will be well” from the ‘Inhaling’ series, is a quote from a letter the Queen Mother wrote about Princess Margaret. She was born into a contract, non negotiable rules set for her life.

 I believe the royals are the ultimate objects of our projections. Women with status, like Margaret are available for the opinions of everyone.

 

This was my jump off point for ‘Smoked’. Margaret is a great subject for that 50’s 60’s look. Showing us her finishing school style mannerisms, masks with style. Are cigarettes her prop? They certainly were mine, in my chain-smoking youth Marlboro Lights were my costume!

 

 I'm looking for close ups of deportment within her body language and how she would fiddle with her fingers or watch or cigarettes. What are the voices in her head while she's being papped? - mundane thoughts? How's it feel to be stared at? 

 

I play, clipping and highlighting small captions of body language. Papercuts are my crop tools, overlaying to find colour contrast and vibration while paring down on stylish oil painted snapshots with a nostalgic frisson. 

 

Influences are Gerald Laing, Pauline Boty and David Salle, giving a feeling of a British buttoned-up myth of femininity.