When, Museum of Rural Life, Reading,

March 17th-June 14th, 2026

Mumming Comes Before Murder (2026),

Japanese Suminagashi marbling, gelatine, drawing ink, hot water, stills from the video projection onto Shogi natural Kozo paper (32gsm)

967* 1500mm. 

This art projection asks questions about the intangible nature of time, (national) identity and tradition (itself an avatar of time) through the monochrome rings of Suminagashi ink marbling – itself an age old tradition of Japanese culture, that unlike European marbling, forms concentric rings – not unlike the rings of a tree that tell us how old it was before it was cut down. 

The names of traditional ritualistic dances performed throughout the seasons and across the country, are placed, explode, dissolve and disappear through the marbling.  The projection is on Japanese kozo paper – a strong but light handmade gauzy paper that echoes the ethereal nature of time.

The names of traditional ‘English’ Dances that I have selected: Twiggy Witch; Bogland Jig; Flower of Death; Black Nag; Beating the Bounds; The Hanging Judge; Mortiford Dragon; Hare of Much Marcle; Blackthorn Wassail

They are strange sounding and could conceivably be from a piece of fantasy literature or the names of countryside pubs.  The font I chose to write these words in is loosely based on the font from titles of the period comedy of the 1980s Blackadder.

Audio/Sound

The audio is set to nostalgic or analogue, to question the relevance of these dances, and the motivation to keep such things alive and kicking.  Included is the morse code for S_O_S as well as church bells, galloping horses, footsteps, radio interference and a slow beating heart. Sounds interests me particularly when it is dislocated from the image itself.

Title and Conception

In the Seven Woods series, Dave Pearson, 850*500, charcoal on paper

My journey started with the large Seven Woods series of drawings by Dave Pearson found in the Museum of Rural Life.  Pearson’s  work depicts in charcoal the tradition of the Abbots Horn Dance, with characters from traditional mumming plays (mumming plays are form of folk theatre, wherein the hero fights and villain and is brought back to life: themes of death and resurrection).  I had to look up mumming plays in the Dictionary of Folklore – I found it amusing that it came before murder, especially with the violence of the marks on the paper. Tradition can and often is violent; and it can also be about the fight to keep those traditions alive.  The charcoal is thick and dark and the atmosphere is haunting.

Stills of experiments with idioms and figures in the early stages of conception,

First Conception

I started out with time idioms this seemed to have too little bearing to the concerns of Dave Pearson. This is the original video I created.