Luggage revisited

I've written about these works before, but I found some more photos, so thought I'd revisit them. The installation shot is from the Luggage... Not Baggage show at PCL Exhibitionists in 2000.


I seemed to be a little confused about the titles when I wrote last time, but apparently this first work is called Why Prolong The Agony? I'm not sure why... It has human hair sandwiched between fly wire, so maybe I was using the idea of a cage entrapping people? I think it's a lyric from a song. This is about 20x20cm. I machine stitched the panels, then hand stitched them to form the bag. The handles are artificial hair plaits.

This work is called Just What Is It That Makes Today's Boys So Different, So Appealing? I've used the title a couple of times to suggest a paedophilic theme. They're clearly just snapshots, but by giving them a suggestive title, it forces one to reexamine the images. One becomes a voyeur, rather than just a mere observer. The photographs have been laminated into panels, then linked with key rings.



I seem to think, in the previous post, that this is called What Is It To Be Human? Initially I thought it must be the one with the hair, and I'm still not entirely sure that it's not! Then this would be Why Prolong The Agony? Not sure how that would fit either! The interior is plastic cling wrap that has been hand spun, then woven over a frame. The panels were sewn together, then covered in faux fur. This is probably the most useful of the bags, and also the least "artistic."


This last one is called What Price Love? It's made from cards that I'd received from men after I had, uh-hum, "met" them, which had their names and phone numbers. I chose only those cards which had a first name, but no last name. They were sewn between sheets of acetate. The stitching to form the bag is also machine stitching (the plastic was flexible enough to allow it to be squished through the sewing machine).