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Edwardian Album  Bentley, N. 1974 London, Cardinal Books

Victorian & Edwardian London From Old Photographs  Betjeman, J. 1969 London, B.T. Batsford

    Me Then Now is contemporary performative practice with painting at its heart. It is the making of a life, my life, in a historical context. In my case this is 19o4.

    The brief Edwardian period from 19o1 is overshadowed by the Victorian with the many industrial and technological innovations of that period that continue to give benefit that preceded it and the Great War that followed it, and which precipitated the social modernity we live in today.

     The Edwardian seems far removed from Now. It is a time of elegance and disparity between rich and poor. It is a time of hierarchy and emerging independence. I benefit from the rights won for me by previous generations, not only the right to vote but the right to education as well.

   I am drawn to 19o4, a lifetime before I was born, finding similarities between my situation Now and what would have been my situation Then.

  It is the year when the mourning for the late queen has passed and yet the more recognisable Edwardian traits have yet to manifest themselves. It can be thought of as a lull in an overlooked period of our history that is for me as rich, diverse and complex as today.

The Path To ‘Me Then Now’

Paintings