I can’t believe it – the work is actually up on the walls (and in a display case) at the William Morris Gallery! The installation was quite exciting, given that three works had to be installed high up in the stairwell. It’s a good thing that it wasn’t me who had to get up on these long ladders – I felt queasy just watching!
The most delicate moment was when the work was passed between the two installers, each leaning out and holding on to one end …. they were fine, but I literally stopped breathing (and taking photos). Did I mention I have a bit of a ladder-phobia?
The works pictured are the pieces I made in response to my investigation of Morris & Co’s cotton supply chain (see blog posts of 25 and 30 September). I wanted these large hangings to make the link between the beautiful Morris & Co fabrics, hand-block printed at Merton Abbey, and the Lancashire cotton mills where the cloth used my Morris was spun and woven. My original intention was to draw attention to the cotton mill workers; however as I discovered there are very few visual records of workers at work – if people took photographs, they would be of a group of workers posing for the camera away from their workstations, and even most of these photos tend to be from the early 20th century (or later) rather than Morris’ lifetime. The painting “The Dinner Hour, Wigan” at Manchester Art Gallery is a rare example of picturing the working life of mill girls – albeit during a break from work.
So I decided to focus instead on the machines that powered the mills, and interlace them with classic Morris & Co patterns: ‘Brother Rabbit’ and ‘Honeysuckle and Tulip’. These designs are still in production by Morris & Co, who kindly sponsored the fabrics I used. The machines I painted on them are based on Victorian illustrations of an 1874 boiler with fuel economiser and of an 1892 triple-expansion spinning mill engine.
I was immediately struck by how the “Oldham Economiser” looks uncannily like a skull or gas mask. As for a mill engine that has its formidable cylinders named “Capital” and “Labour” – well, nothing could be better to illustrate the complex, and conflicted, relationship between Morris the entrepreneur-designer and Morris the socialist. I suspect many visitors to the exhibition will simply assume it was me who made this up. Honest, I didn’t!
How I got to see these Victorian illustrations is quite a story in itself – but that will be for the next post.
