The Swan and The Spectre
original photograph 2009, print 2022
Photo size 30 x 30 cm
Frame size H x W x D 33.5 x 33.5 x 3 cm
Signed edition of 10 + 1 AP

A photograph of a return, a resurrection, a re-construction; unearthed from the archive. This is a framed version of a photo by Alex Delfanne Photography of a work called The Swan and The Spectre (2009), shot in my old leaky studio on the Old Kent Road. A work which remade Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle, a castle that is a ghost of a ghost, inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (1886), itself based on castles from the middle ages and narratives from Wagner’s operas. Set designer Christian Jank designed it, and 30 people died in the construction (it’s built on the edge of a cliff). My version was made using Dianne Arbus’ photograph, and this image returns it to the source material, the blueprint. The Disney version, designed by Roland Ethill, used forced perspective, similar to Michaelangelo’s David, to look more imposing.

Signed, Edition of 10 + 1 AP