Great Expectations
“An everlasting animal stretching into the future and the past, and, like all living things, having the power to change out of recognition and yet remain the same.” (George Orwell)
During the three months of the “Storytellers” exhibition at the Beaney, Canterbury, the sculpture: Hooden Horses (3 Men of Kent) was joined by a number of smaller works. The “Great Expectations” series: Minuments to Kent.
These artworks elaborated on Kentish identity and evolved the project to include narratives of Aspiration, Anarchy, Resistance, Movement, Innovation, Conservatism, Collectivism and the Bucolic occurring from the Stone Age to the present day.
The stories we tell about ourselves, the stories others tell about us and the stories we tell about others.
This is an ongoing collaborative project, if you have a story to tell about Kent contact me.
“There are no walls or fences. My garden’s boundaries are the horizon.” (Derek Jarman)
Great Expectations No. 19 Unity is Strength
For the Miners of Dover
Mixed Media
24cm x 37 cm
2024
£400
Coal was discovered in Kent in 1890 while borings for an early Chanel Tunnel project were taking place. At the time there were no workers experienced in mining in Kent. All the workers had to be imported from traditional mining areas such as Wales, Scotland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands. In all these places the coal industry was booming; consequently the miners had little incentive to come to Kent. As a result, the Kent collieries had to pay higher wages in order to compete and to incite the new workers.
The result was miners came to the Kent coalfields from all across Britain. This heterogeneous mix of miners led to the Kent coalfields having a mix of wildly different traditions which stemmed from all the coalfields across Britain.
Great Expectations No. 18
For the New Art Community of Margate
Mixed Media
70cm x 40cm
2024
£900
By Rebecca Strickson illustration (Margate)
with Annalisa Middleton
Great Expectations No.17 On Aspiration at 275 Horse Power
For White Van Man
Diecast Ford Van, Acrylic
2024
Great Expectations No. 16 On getting lost in History
For the Maze at Leeds Castle
Opaque Watercolour on Paper
15cm x 12 cm
2024
£850 framed
By Vaishali Prazmari
Created in 1988 by the world’s leading maze designer Adrian Fisher, the Leeds Castle maze is made up of over 2,400 yew trees. It is also the only one to have even baffled its creator – upon opening it to the public in 1988, even he couldn’t find his way out. Adrian described the maze afterwards as “so difficult a puzzle that even a maze designer could get lost!”
British artist Vaishali Prazmari’s multidisciplinary work incorporates elements from various cultures including the Indo-Persian miniatures and Chinese painting of her multiple heritages. Vaishali writes:
“Mazes and labyrinths have a long and ancient history particularly in Europe and the British Isles. Hasted’s History of Kent (1788) mentions a Mease Hill, which may have come from the Celtic maes, meaning ‘field’ (Matthews, 1922). The maze at Leeds Castle famously amazed and puzzled its own designer, Adrian Fisher, who got lost in his own creation. It is a unique maze in the world for its device linking a circular maze pattern (resembling the ancient Cretan labyrinth) into an overall square format. Furthermore, the maze at Leeds Castle has an amazing exit: we leave through a grotto made of shells and stones, wood and bones that incorporates a Green Man and other mythical creatures, thereby linking two very English traditions together in one piece. The dark yew trees that make up the maze have a long relationship with magic in Britain. This particular maze happens to be almost the same age as the artist, whose own personal history of being amazed starts with her parents living not far from Leeds Castle and for her this became an emblem of Kent, and by extension also of Englishness.”
Great Expectations No. 15 ‘There are no walls or fences. My garden's boundaries are the horizon.'
For Derek Jarman (Dungeness)
Framed Photo, Sea Holly, Rosemary, Violets, Purple Sage, Chalk, Shingle, Shells
2024
Derek Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener, and gay rights activist.
Derek Jarman acquired Prospect Cottage, a fisherman’s shack on the shingle at Dungeness near the nuclear power station, when he came across the building with a ‘For Sale’ sign while filming on the beach with Tilda Swinton. Having been diagnosed with HIV on 22 December 1986, Jarman had resolved ‘to get as much out of life as possible’ and started creating a garden.
In Chroma, written a year before his death, and as his eyesight was failing. Jarman explored the uses of colour. Shifting across the spectrum and spanning references from the medieval to the modern, he drew on the work of great colour theorists from Pliny to Leonardo. Interwoven with these musings were evocative memories from Jarman's childhood and illustrious career, along with reflections on his deteriorating health.
It was described as “A paean from an artist seeking to memorialise the extraordinary power of colour even while it receded from his own life.”
He is buried in the graveyard at St Clement’s Church, Old Romney, Kent.
Great Expectations No.14 For River Medway (Chatham)
Serving you Equestrian Realness
Oil on Panel
25cm x 20cm
2024
£600 unframed
River Medway is a Drag Queen from Chatham, Kent. She took part in the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2021 shortly after losing her mother to covid. At the time I was nursing my father and all news from Kent seemed to be depressing and small minded; her strength, beauty and humour shone out.
One of her runway looks celebrated her home town and the statue of Thomas Waghorn which is constantly improved by the locals.
Support your local Drag Storyteller
Great Expectations No.13 Three Reclining Figures:
For a Misspent youth drinking in Brenchley Gardens (Maidstone)
Marble dust Jesmonite
2024
Cast by Brigid Vidler www.brigidvidler.com
Great Expectations No.12 Storytime round the Fire:
For the Burning of Thomas Hytten (1530 Maidstone)
2024
Carbon, Quartz, Epoxy Putty, Foxes Book of Martyrs
Thomas Hitton (died February 1530) is generally considered to be the first English Protestant martyr of the Reformation, although the followers of Wycliffe - the Lollards - had been burned at the stake as late as 1519.
Thomas Hitton may only feature as a footnote (if that) in modern histories of the English Reformation. In his day it was different. As an early martyr of a new credal generation he sparked new admiration. Stemming from Norfolk (Foxe tells us), which had been a home of Lollards a hundred years earlier, he was sentenced by Archbishop Warham and burned at Maidstone (where he had been preaching) in February 1530. By 1531 Hitton was already being referred to as a Saint.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs, also known as The Actes and Monuments (of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church), is a work of history, martyrology and propaganda by Protestant English historian John Foxe, first published in 1563. A "gigantic folio volume" of about 1800 pages filled with "sensational episodes of torture and death"
This text, over many dozens of textual alterations (four different editions were published by 1583, each much expanded: the 2nd edition was 2300 very large pages), and their scholarly interpretations, helped to frame English consciousness (national, religious and historical), for over four hundred years.
Between 1555 -1558 forty one Kentish Martyrs were executed for heresy in Canterbury, they included the last Protestants burnt during the reign of Mary I.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, four Catholic Martyrs were executed by hanging, drawing and quartering at Oaten Hill, Canterbury, on 1 October 1588
Great Expectations No.11 Big days out in London:
For Jack Cade’s Rebellion (1450)
Wool, Thread, Knitting Needles, Sequins & Glass Beads
2024
By Gillian Ely
Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption and abuse of power of the king's closest advisors and local officials, as well as recent military losses in France during the Hundred Years' War. Leading an army of men from south-eastern England, the rebellion's leader Jack Cade marched on London in order to force the government to reform the administration and remove from power the "traitors" deemed responsible for bad governance. Apart from the Cornish rebellion of 1497, it was the largest popular uprising to take place in England during the 15th century.
Very little is known about the identity and origins of Jack Cade. Given that the rebel leader did not leave behind any personal documents, and the use of aliases was common among rebels, historians are forced to base their claims on rumour and speculation. Historians agree for certain that he was a member of the lower ranks of society. During the rebellion of 1450, Cade took on the title of "Captain of Kent"
Amongst the most hated figures in Government for Jack Cade and the Rebels was Baron Saye and Sele whose other titles included: High Sheriff of Kent, Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was made Lord High Treasurer of England in 1449 during the period of “The Great Slump” an economic slowdown that had began in the 1430s and which persisted until the 1480s. Some accounts refer to the event as a "credit crunch”
In the spring of 1450, Cade organised the creation and distribution of a manifesto entitled The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent. The manifesto represented not only the grievances of the people but of several MPs, lords and magnates as well. After a skirmish at Sevenoaks the rebels entered and overtook London via Southwark. Henry VI had fled to Warwickshire by this point and handed over Saye and Sele to the rebels as a placatory gesture.
Saye and Sele was brought to Guildhall for a sham trial. Upon being found guilty of treason, he was paraded through part of London and beheaded. His son-in-law, deputy-sheriff of Kent, was also executed by the rebels outside the city walls on the same day. The heads of the two men were put on pikes and unceremoniously paraded through the streets of London while their bearers pushed them together so that they appeared to kiss. Their heads were then affixed to London Bridge.
Gradually Cade's inability to control his followers alienated the initially sympathetic citizens of London, who eventually turned against the rebels. When, on 7 July, Cade's army returned over the bridge to Southwark for the night, the London officials closed the bridge to prevent Cade from re-entering the city.
Cade fled towards Lewes but on 12 July, in a garden in which he had taken shelter, was caught. In the skirmish, Cade was fatally wounded and died before reaching London for trial. As a warning to others, Cade's body underwent a mock trial and was beheaded at Newgate. Cade's body was dragged through the streets of London before being quartered. His limbs were sent throughout Kent to various cities and locations that were believed to have been strong supporters of the rebel uprising.
Great Expectations No. 10 The Origin Myth with 1000 faces: for Hengist and Horsa (455 AD?)
Lime
19.5cm x 19cm x 6cm
2024
£1000
Carved by Brigid Vidler
Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Hengist is thought to be the first of the Jutish kings of Kent.
According to early sources, Hengist and Horsa arrived in Britain at Ebbsfleet on the Isle of Thanet. For a time, they served as mercenaries for Vortigern, King of the Britons, but later they turned against him (British accounts have them betraying him in the Treachery of the Long Knives). Horsa was killed fighting the Britons at Aylesford, but Hengist successfully conquered Kent, becoming the forefather of its kings. Later with the Angles and Saxons they created the idea of “England”
On farmhouses in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, horse-head gables were referred to as "Hengst und Hors" (Low German for "stallion and mare") as late as around 1875. Some believe that Hengist and Horsa were originally considered mythological, horse-shaped beings. Martin Litchfield West comments that the horse heads may have been remnants of pagan religious practices in the area.
This “Minument” combines visual prompts from Smallfilms “Noggin the Nog” by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, The Lewis Chessmen from the British Museum and the knights of the Chess set we grew up with; which was my Mum’s Grandfather’s.
King and Queen from the Lewis Chessmen (British Museum)
Great Expectations No.9 For Sergeant Josef František
Oil on Canvas
24cm x 18cm
2024
Josef František DFM & Bar (7 October 1914 – 8 October 1940) was a Czechoslovak fighter pilot and Second World War fighter ace who flew for the air forces of Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, and the United Kingdom. He was the highest-scoring non-British Allied ace in the Battle of Britain, with 17 confirmed victories and one probable, all gained in a period of four weeks in September 1940.
An unruly pilot, he was seen by his commanding officers as a danger to his colleagues when flying in formation. His British CO, Squadron Leader Ronald Kellett, offered to get František transferred to a Czech squadron. František, perhaps due to his clash with the Czechoslovak air attaché in Paris, chose to stay with his Polish colleagues. As all pilots were valuable, a compromise was reached whereby František was allotted a "spare" aircraft so he could fly as a "guest" of the squadron as and when he wanted. Thus František fought his own private war – accompanying the squadron into the air and peeling off to fly a lone patrol over Kent, patrolling in the area through which he knew the German aircraft being intercepted would fly on their way back to base, possibly damaged and low on fuel and ammunition.
František was a brilliant pilot and combatant but frequently breached air force discipline first in Czechoslovakia, in France and Britain. The RAF found it best to let him patrol alone, a role in which he was highly successful. He was killed in a crash in October 1940 in the final week of the Battle of Britain.
Great Expectations No.8 For Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji (Gravesend)
Oil on Canvas
24cm x 18cm
2024
Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji DFC (14 August 1918 – 18 September 2010), was a distinguished Royal Air Force fighter pilot and one of the first Indian Sikh pilots to volunteer with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He is one of the few Indian pilots to have also served in all three major theatres of the Second World War.
Mahinder was born in Simla, India, on 14 August 1918. He learned to fly in 1936 as a hobby pilot at the Delhi Flying Club. His first job was with Himalayan Airways as a line pilot, flying passengers between Haridwar and Badrinath.
In 1940, Pujji's sense of duty and daring adventurism instinctively caused him to attend the advertised appeal for "A" licensed pilots and despite his parents' fears; he became one of the first batch of 24 Indian pilots accepted into Royal Air Force during the early part of the Second World War.
He flew mainly Hurricanes, which he preferred to Spitfires, for their relative ease of flying. He was forced down on several occasions; in one instance, his aircraft was disabled over the English Channel by a Messerschmitt Bf 109, but he managed to coax his aircraft to dry land, crashing near the White Cliffs of Dover. He was rescued from the burning wreckage and after a week in hospital returned to duty.
By September 1945 Pujji had spent almost four years on continuous operational flying duty, considered unusual even by standards of the Second World War.
For his service bravery over Japanese occupied territory, Pujji was awarded the DFC in 1945, in recognition of gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations.
In 2005, Pujji protested the British National Party's symbolic usage of a Spitfire aircraft image in their political campaign literature. He was reported as saying,
"The BNP are wrong to use the Spitfire as representative of their party. They forget people from different backgrounds helped in the Second World War. I am proof of this - I was flying a Spitfire. I also met Winston Churchill. Even in those days, there were ethnic minorities fighting for the British."
In August 2010, Pujji's autobiography For King And Another Country was released.
A statue of Squadron Leader Pujji, by sculptor Douglas Jennings, was unveiled in Gravesend, on 28 November 2014. It bears the inscription: "To commemorate those from around the world who served alongside Britain in all conflicts 1914-2014". The Gravesend community, which has one of the largest gurdwaras in the UK, raised £70,000 for the statue in a month.
Great Expectations No.7 A Time to Crown and a Time to Cut
Green Soapstone
7cm x 8cm x 25cm
2024
£900
By Finn Conlon
The short-lived Kentish asparagus season is one of the highlights of the culinary calendar. Asparagus is typically in season for around eight weeks. Due to weather conditions, the start and end of the season may change slightly from year to year, but it is usually considered to run from 23rd April (St George’s Day) to 21st June (Summer Solstice).
Great Expectations No.6 For 404 Varieties in the National Fruit Collection (Brogdale)
2024
Cherry Wood
£400 each
The National Fruit Collection is one of the largest collections of fruit trees and plants in the world. Over 2,131 varieties of apple, 523 of pear, 332 of plum, 404 of cherry and smaller collections of bush fruits, nuts and grapes are grown, in 150 acres of orchards.
The collection includes two trees or bushes of each variety, in case one is lost. It has been curated and maintained at Brogdale Farm, Kent since 1952.
Great Expectations No.5 When Falstaff went Foxy:
For John Oldcastle (Cobham) and the Lollard Revolt (1414)
2024
Wool
Knitted by Janice Ely (my Mum)
Not for Sale
Sir John Oldcastle (Baron of Cobham) was an English Lollard leader who followed the teachings of John Wycliffe, a Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the power and corruption within the Church.
The Lollards' demands were primarily for the reform of Western Christianity. They believed that all people should have free access to the Scriptures in their own language. The Lollards were responsible for the first translation of the Bible into English1382 - 1395. Wycliffe promoted a personal relationship with God and argued the authority of Scripture over the authority of the Church. Lollards denied any special status to the priesthood: they thought confession to a priest was unnecessary as priests did not have the ability to forgive sins. They opposed the acquisition of temporal wealth by Church leaders, as accumulating wealth led them away from religious concerns and towards greed.
Lollards also had a tendency toward iconoclasm, an opposition to pilgrimages and saint worship and a denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation. Church powers hunted down the Lollards ruthlessly, and many of them were burned at the stake. Others recanted their doctrines when faced with torture and death. The survivors were driven underground.
Being a friend of Henry V, John Oldcastle long escaped prosecution for heresy. When convicted, he escaped from the Tower of London and then led a rebellion from Kent against the King in 1414. Eventually, he was captured and executed in London in 1417. He formed the basis for William Shakespeare's character John Falstaff . A second insurrection from Kent, involving several thousand Lollards was nipped in the bud in 1428.
The Roman Catholic Church used art as an anti-Lollard weapon. Lollards were represented as foxes dressed as monks or priests preaching to a flock of geese and other birds. These representations alluded to the story of the preaching fox found in popular medieval literature such as The History of Reynard the Fox. The fox lured the geese closer and closer with its eloquent words until it was able to snatch a victim to devour. The moral of the story being that foolish people are seduced by false teachers.
My Mum Knitted the Fox tail for this “Minument”. This was important to me as during the 80s and 90s she rebelled against the education system in Kent and its misunderstanding of dyslexia. Her determined efforts helped all three of her children improve their literacy and progress at school. She went on to train as a dyslexia tutor and then worked in schools, helping other children with literacy and numeracy difficulties.
Great Expectations No.4 For Those About to Rock (We Salute You):
For Kits Coty (Aylesford circa 4000 BCE), the Vox Factory (Dartford) and the sound of the “British Invasion”
2024
Mixed Media
Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is a chambered long barrow near the village of Aylesford. Constructed circa 4000 BCE, during the Early Neolithic period of British prehistory, today it survives in a ruined state.
Archaeologists have established that the monument was built by pastoralist communities shortly after the introduction of agriculture to Britain from continental Europe.
Vox is a British musical equipment manufacturer founded in 1957 by Thomas Walter Jennings in Dartford, Kent. The company is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, used by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Queen, Dire Straits and Radiohead; the Vox Continental electric organ, the Vox wah-wah pedal used by Jimi Hendrix, and a series of innovative electric guitars and bass guitars. Since 1992, Vox has been owned by the Japanese electronics firm Korg.
Great Expectations No.3 The Lioness and the Unicorn:
For Alessia Russo (Bearsted)
First Edition of Orwell Book & Russo England Away Shirt
Not for Sale
Born in Maidstone, Alessia Russo began playing football at a young age in a family of athletes. Her middle brother, Giorgio, has played non-league football for various teams, including Ramsgate. Alessia played for Bearsted F.C. Girls U10 as a child before moving on to Chelsea and then to Brighton and Hove. She moved to the United States to play college soccer, joining ACC team North Carolina Tar Heels in 2017. On returning to England she joined Manchester United the club she supported growing up. Her Sicilian grandfather moved to England in the 1950s and became a fan of Manchester United. He passed this on to his children and grandchildren. In 2023 Alessia joined Arsenal.
For England Russo was part of the team that won the UEFA Women's Euros 2022. She ended the tournament with four goals, the fourth an audacious back-heel between the legs of Sweden keeper Hedvig Lindahl in the semi-final. On 15th of January 2024 she was named in the FIFPRO World XI at The Best FIFA Football Awards.
George Orwell wrote the Lion and the Unicorn in 1941, it has gone on to become an important essay for those looking for a progressive form of patriotism.
“England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare’s much-quoted message, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons. It has rich relations who have to be kow-towed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income. It is a family in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power is in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. Still, it is a family. It has its private language and its common memories, and at the approach of an enemy it closes its ranks. A family with the wrong members in control—that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.”
In 1931, Orwell made the trip to Kent to work as a Hop-picker. His experiences appeared in his novel, A Clergyman’s Daughter, but they were also turned into an essay, ‘Hop-Picking’, for the New Statesman and Nation.
Read Orwell’s The Lion and the Unicorn here
Great Expectations No.2 A Bird in the Hand:
For Rod Hull & Emu (Sheppey)
Bronze
4.5cm x 7cm x 18cm
Edition of 5
£750
Rod Hull was born on Sheppey in 1935 and growing up always dreamed of becoming an actor.
He later moved to Australia and began work as a lighting technician with TCN Channel 9 in Sydney and eventually started appearing on air, notably as Constable Clot in Channel 9's slapstick comedy series Kaper Kops. It was in Australlia that Rod found and started performing with his Emu puppet. From this point on Rod rarely appeared without Emu, a mute and highly aggressive arm-length puppet modelled on the Australian bird.
Emu brought Rod huge fame both in Britain and in America where he performed anarchic routines on chat shows. He appeared regularly on Television in the 1970s and 1980s and became wealthy.
In the late 1980s Hull bought Restoration House in Rochester, a huge 38 room Grade 1 listed property (which was the original inspiration for Miss Haversham’s House in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.) Purchasing Restoration House saved it from being turned into a car park, but the cost of renovations and an unpaid tax bill, along with fewer TV appearances resulted in bankruptcy for Hull in 1994.
Rod Hull relocated to a tiny one storey shepherd's cottage in East Sussex. Hull died penniless in the cottage: on the night of 17 March 1999, he was trying to adjust the television aerial on the roof of his bungalow at half-time during an Inter Milan vs. Manchester United Champions League match, when he slipped and fell.
Upon Hull's death, Michael Parkinson reminisced that he had found him to be "a very charming, intelligent, and sensitive man – quite unlike the Emu." He observed that the puppet "was the dark side of Rod's personality, and very funny, provided it was not on top of you."
Great Expectations No.1 The Beaker Complex:
For the Beaker People (2500 BCE)
by Rebecca Strickson Illustration (Margate)
Red Earthware, White Stoneware & Black Pigment
11cm x 10cm diameter & 7.5cm x 7.5cm diameter
£300 each
The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age, arising from around 2800 BC. Bell Beaker culture lasted in Britain from c. 2450 BC, with the appearance of single inhumation graves, until as late as 1800 BC.
Further distinguishing them from the Neolithic societies is their association with the introduction of metalworking to Britain. From its place of origin in the Near East, knowledge of metal working had spread through most of Europe by this point. However, the Neolithic people of Britain had isolated themselves from the rest of the continent, remaining firmly in the Stone Age. The Beaker people changed this, bringing the skill of refining metal to the isles, first with the smelting of copper and then the smelting of bronze with its discovery around 2150 BCE. The Bronze Age had truly arrived in Britain.
Along with their distinctive pottery and metalworking the Beaker people brought archery to Britain and the first golden artifacts. They also continued construction on pre-existing neolithic monuments such as Stone Henge. The Bell Beaker phenomenon shows substantial regional variation, and a study from 2018 found that it was associated with genetically diverse populations.