Storytellers
Hooden Horses (3 Men of Kent)
Mixed Media including Bronze, Brass, Jute, Chalk, Cotton, Oak, Jesmonite, Enamel, Steel, Pearl, Acrylic etc
Dimensions variable
2022 - 2024
The stories we tell about ourselves, the stories others tell about us and the stories we tell about others.
The sculpture “Hooden Horses (3 Men of Kent)” is a conversation between the East Kent Tradition of the Hooden Horse folk costume and the failed White Horse at Ebbsfleet Landmark, Mark Wallinger’s proposed monumental White Horse, sometimes called “The Angel of the South.” Between them the three horses reference the differing narratives of the people who have lived, worked and passed through the County.
The Drinker/ Hop Horse
Highfalutin’/ Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells
Teeth Gnasher / Culture Warhorse
Kent as seen through the ghosts of the past and the possibilities of the present. As both a “Garden of England” and a “frontline.” A home, a place of nostalgia, comfort and sanctuary, of bounty and opportunity but also of injustice, neglect, division and othering.
The divisive language of Brexit, the so called culture wars, emblems of heraldry and identity juxtaposed with the everyday needs that all people share.
“An everlasting animal stretching into the future and the past, and, like all living things, having the power to change out of recognition and yet remain the same.” (George Orwell)
During the three months of the “Storytellers” exhibition at the Beaney, Canterbury, the sculpture: Hooden Horses (3 Men of Kent) was joined by a number of smaller works. The “Great Expectations” series: Minuments to Kent.
These artworks elaborated on Kentish identity and evolved the project to include narratives of Aspiration, Anarchy, Resistance, Movement, Innovation, Conservatism, Collectivism and the Bucolic occurring from the Stone Age to the present day.
This is an ongoing collaborative project, if you have a story to tell about Kent contact me.
“There are no walls or fences. My garden’s boundaries are the horizon.” (Derek Jarman)
