In my series ‘Monumental Nobodies’, I sought to reveal the pressing issues of society by distorting images of power with irony and humour.
Statues and monuments were my starting point; they map the rise and fall of Empires, punctuating an arc through triumph and failure. With their conscious symbolism, they provide the foundation for a revisionist interpretation of the notions of beauty, pride, and nationalism.
By replacing their crowns and thrones with ordinary objects, the aura of emperors and gods are demoting to powerless nobodies. Through ridicule I play with their initial grand goals, querying their motivations and questioning the orthodoxy of accepted history. And in doing so I reference themes such as individual freedom, social control, surveillance and the deceit of rulers who intentionally fail to act as they speak.
