Rivers of Blood

2021 - 2022

An intimate series, portraying the artist's family across geographical spaces. Archival ephemera and found images constitute a patchwork of personal memory. The project’s title refers to a speech by the same name, made in the houses of parliament in 1968. The artist depicts the social and political environment into which she was born, a decade later.

She contemplates the effect of power and poverty upon ordinary lives, while considering the concept of freedom and liberty as espoused within the moral framework of Western democracy.

Ideological happiness is portrayed as freedom through material consumption, instead of freedom from fear. Western culture is epitomised as a rational pursuit, and in this reality, individual liberty is the end goal.

Personal archival images and fleeting moments of the artists’ life are presented as dream-like scenarios or a simulated reality where family, community and collectivism are imagined as foundational elements for health and wellbeing.