A piece of my work has been selected for the cover of Idles Divide and Conquer new limited 7” single. Joseph Talbot from Idles curated a selection of artwork that related directly with each of the singles and invited each artist to write a paragraph of text about the work for the back cover of the sleeve.
“This piece of work explores the historic treatment of women’s mental health in the early 1800s. Hysteria was considered a nervous illness associated exclusively with women. French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot observed women seized by convulsions during ‘hysteric fits’, the arched central element of this work references this hysterical arch. It was hand dyed with St John’s-wort, a natural anti depressant and then encrusted in salt to reference tears. The sphere can be controlled by other people, pushed around and manipulated by others.”
“‘Divide and Conquer‘ it was written at a time where I watched my mother deteriorate in a hospital that was itself dying. The song was an observation on how simple financial cuts and the mere action of writing a cross in a box can cut someone’s life short. Last week the Tories started a campaign to sell whatever is left of our #NHS or the Sustainability and Transformation Plan as they’ve put it. Fuck off.” – Joseph Talbot
