Disasters of War

  Disasters of War alludes to Goya’s graphic and macabre prints of 1810 to 20, which depict the atrocities of the Spanish war against France under Napoleon. This textile piece is in black, stitched, embroidered and deconstructed paper and evokes the fate of women and children in war. A long gown with the hood falling forward is suspended in a crucifixion like pose, with two smaller coats on either side in a similar position - a mother and two children sacrificed as collateral damage in a man’s war, in a grouping evocative of Golgotha. The gowns elicit the death, mourning, burning and darkness that come with war. The floral motif implies the lost flowering of life, with what is perhaps a poppy making a link to war and remembrance. These women and children will not be honoured and remembered as fallen soldiers.