Great Expectations No. 16 On getting lost in History
For the Maze at Leeds Castle
Opaque Watercolour on Paper
15cm x 12 cm
2024
£850 framed
By Vaishali Prazmari
Created in 1988 by the world’s leading maze designer Adrian Fisher, the Leeds Castle maze is made up of over 2,400 yew trees. It is also the only one to have even baffled its creator – upon opening it to the public in 1988, even he couldn’t find his way out. Adrian described the maze afterwards as “so difficult a puzzle that even a maze designer could get lost!”
British artist Vaishali Prazmari’s multidisciplinary work incorporates elements from various cultures including the Indo-Persian miniatures and Chinese painting of her multiple heritages. Vaishali writes:
“Mazes and labyrinths have a long and ancient history particularly in Europe and the British Isles. Hasted’s History of Kent (1788) mentions a Mease Hill, which may have come from the Celtic maes, meaning ‘field’ (Matthews, 1922). The maze at Leeds Castle famously amazed and puzzled its own designer, Adrian Fisher, who got lost in his own creation. It is a unique maze in the world for its device linking a circular maze pattern (resembling the ancient Cretan labyrinth) into an overall square format. Furthermore, the maze at Leeds Castle has an amazing exit: we leave through a grotto made of shells and stones, wood and bones that incorporates a Green Man and other mythical creatures, thereby linking two very English traditions together in one piece. The dark yew trees that make up the maze have a long relationship with magic in Britain. This particular maze happens to be almost the same age as the artist, whose own personal history of being amazed starts with her parents living not far from Leeds Castle and for her this became an emblem of Kent, and by extension also of Englishness.”