The Circus of The Oppressed.

Series

Traumarama

2019
Pigment ink marker and synthetic polymer paint on cotton paper
76 × 112cm / 30 × 44 in

ID: Work on paper of a vintage styled colourful circus poster with a red border filled with diversity tick boxes. Banner at top / title / scroll banner ribboning down image read “THE PROGRESSIVE ARTS INSTITUTION PREFERS / THE CIRCUS OF THE OPPRESSED’S / TRAUMARAMA”. A gold decorative bordered circle reads “THE RESPECTABLE SPECTACLE”. The Ringmaster / curator is a tiny white silhouette on a high diving board, pushing three ethnic silhouettes with skeletons within, into a tiny bucket of white tears, overflowing from the cries of many sideshow alley clowns in the big top audience. Text at bottom reads “THE GREAT ETHNOLOGICAL CONGRESS / OF STRANGE AND CURIOUS PEOPLE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD / RISK REMARKABLE HEAD FOREMOST DIVES INTO THE SHALLOW DEPTHS OF THEIR PAST AND / PRESENT SUFFERING. YOUR MOST CHARITABLE CONSUMPTION OF REMADE HISTORICAL / REMEMBRANCES AND CARICATURES OF CURRENT-DAY CALAMITY TITILLATES AND / TRANSFORMS YOUR HITHERTO UNWITNESSED GUILT, CULTIVATES YOUR CONTEMPORARY / COMPASSION, AND ACHIEVES ABSOLUTION OF ALL ANCESTRAL EVIL”