Kind Words

A series of screen prints using words and phrases gleaned from memorials in St Giles in the Fields Church, London, WC2.

Three versions were exhibited, of different sizes, and with parts of the text slightly degraded. The work comments on how and what we commit to public memory. Once sentiments and opinions are committed to a public memorial, they becomes 'true' of that person for later generations who didn't know them.The text on the prints is imperfect, Messages and statements have lost their authoritative or assured status.

The phrases and words to be found on the memorials in the church, illustrate the decisions people have made about what to say, how to say it, saying the right thing, knowing that this will form a lasting public statement. Some of the sentiments seem very contemporary; others are couched in stiff and formal terms, unfamiliar to a contemporary reader.

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