50.00 GBP
People Power stone
Collage / assemblage
Thames river rock flint, antique blotting paper, archival ink, string
9 x 6.5 x 6 cm approx.
Object inspired by the Putney Debates which took place at the edge of the River Thames in London in 1647. The Debates have been associated with the conception of British democracy, universal suffrage and civil liberties.
During the English civil war and just before the execution of King Charles I, soldiers from Oliver Cromwell's New Army and radical Levellers argued for an egalitarian society and the right of the people to elect their representatives in parliament.
This Thames flint stone has been collected near the site of St Mary's parish church in Putney where the Debates took place in 1647. It is shaped like a sphere cut in half.
Two extracts from the Debates are handwritten on antique blotting paper attached on the rock's surface. They are attributed to Col. Thomas Rainborough and officer agitator Audley respectively:
"...every man born in England cannot, ought not...to be exempted from the choice of those who are to make laws for him to live under, and for him...to lose his life under"
"I would die in any place in England in asserting that it is the right of every freeborn man to elect, according to the rule, that which concerns all ought to be debated by all."
Together with the handwritten words, the stone also bears fragments of the first page of the "People's Agreement" the concluding text of the Putney Debates.
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Care Instructions: Please keep this piece out of direct sunlight and sources of heat and humidity.
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The work of collage artist Lito Apostolakou hosted in Inklinks discusses narratives of time, words, memory and history. Lito uses antique papers, archival ink, vintage prints and worn stationery to create collages on found objects like stones, wooden boards and writing cases.
LONDON ROCKS is a project that explores the river Thames as a historical and literary narrative. The London Rocks installation will be exhibited in Creative Histories conference, organised by the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts, Bristol 19-21 July 2017.
Lito works from her home studio in Muswell Hill, London.
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