Enclosure (2023- ongoing)

This work memorialises the theft of the commons and the peasant uprising in Northamptonshire. The Midland Revolt of 1607 is considered the last concerted effort of the peasantry to oppose the enclosure of common land by wealthy landowners. The transition from feudalism to agrarian capitalism was a slow act of violence and internal colonisation. Enclosures caused deprivation of livelihood, rural depopulation and widespread unrest. The uprising in Northamptonshire culminated in a gathering of over 1000 peasants close to the village of Newton, with fences torn down and hedges dug up. Refusing to disperse, the rising was brutally suppressed by the landed gentry whose armed militia slaughtered 50 of the peasants.

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” (Milan Kundera)

“Changing the story isn’t enough in itself, but has often been foundational to real change. Making an injury visible and public is usually the first step in remedying it, and political change often follows culture, as what was long tolerated is seen to be intolerable, or what was overlooked becomes obvious.” (Rebecca Solnit)