Artist Statement

Exhibition Art & Computers

PROVERBIAL CARTOGRAPHY
Proverbial Cartography — electronic montages and large scale embroideries dealing with the ambiguities in a womans’ political position.
The work is concerned with a personal viewpoint of women’s positions with reference to oral traditions, historical reading and contemporary concerns, both politically and in the internal/formal structuring of art-works. Taking English proverbs as a starting point and exploiting their inherent idiosyncratic and bizarre qualities the combination of possibilities of journeys, patronesses, naivety, maps, allegories and martyrdom is an extremely fertile ground for the elaboration of political ideas. Electronic montaging enables the re-articulation of the oral and proverbial tradition in the context of contemporary issues.
WINTER AND WEDLOCK TAMES ALL (1986)
This piece of work was initiated by the reading of E.P. Thompson’s ‘Whigs and Hunters’. In the early C18th laws were passed that vastly increased the number of crimes punishable by hanging. It became the fashion for people to wear wedding clothes to go to their deaths. Their crimes were often petty but all were infringements of the newly acquired ‘landowners’ rights’ and indicate the rising importance and awareness of property and materialism. The second important theme is the strong analogy between marriage and death so often found in the popular oral tradition.
VIRGINAL SHIPWRECK (1987)
The religious tale of St Ursula and the shipwreck of 11,000 virgins seemed too preposterous a myth to ignore. The work challenges traditional Christian views of the virtue of virginal passivity and contains humourous dire warnings against introversion (both social and political). Elements from the C16th ideology of the Ship of Fools have also been included.

• Sarah Beecham (UK), born 1953. Education: Foundation Course at Mid-Warwickshire College, Leamington Spa; Fine Art BA Hons at Coventry Polytechnic. Art Work and Exhibitions: 1979 Mask Photographs. 1979 – 80 `Seven Deadly Sins’ Video, photographs and drawings; exhibited at the Lanchester Gallery as work in progress. 1981 `The Stripper’ photographs and video. 1982 – 86 Transformed English Proverbs in various media. Photographs, electronic montages, embroideries, drawings and short video pieces. 1986 Fragmented Viewpoints; a photographic work with texts documenting a year long view of my childrens’ worlds. Virginal Shipwreck. 1987 – 88 Proverbial Cartography.