'Here's Hoping!' was selected to be in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2022. The piece was selected by Grayson Perry to be exhibited in one of his yellow rooms, with the theme 'Climate'.
This is a truly bleak piece of artwork, though its bright colour and cartoon language may suggest otherwise. Inspired by the book The Last Tree on Easter Island by Jared Diamond and a fascination for human placed standing stones, ‘Here’s hoping!’ is comment on ignoring climate change. The work is an island set against a hot sky where there is no more room left. However the suggested inhabitants hold optimism literally in magic beans and a wandering stick. This work uses playful unapologetic symbolism to show a faith in buying your way out of a problem or running away. This inescapable island with its tropical holiday nonsense has a heavy sense of premonition. The blackened monolith marks our ancestors power and presence in their use of earth to honour other worldliness. This work is both blatant and ambiguous in its reaction to our changing climate.
This is a truly bleak piece of artwork, though its bright colour and cartoon language may suggest otherwise. Inspired by the book The Last Tree on Easter Island by Jared Diamond and a fascination for human placed standing stones, ‘Here’s hoping!’ is comment on ignoring climate change. The work is an island set against a hot sky where there is no more room left. However the suggested inhabitants hold optimism literally in magic beans and a wandering stick. This work uses playful unapologetic symbolism to show a faith in buying your way out of a problem or running away. This inescapable island with its tropical holiday nonsense has a heavy sense of premonition. The blackened monolith marks our ancestors power and presence in their use of earth to honour other worldliness. This work is both blatant and ambiguous in its reaction to our changing climate.