Folk Archive

Jeremy Deller is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the devaluation of artistic ego through the involvement of other people in the creative process. He won the Turner Prize in 2004, and in 2010 was awarded the Albert Medal of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA). Deller is known for his Battle of Orgreave (2001), a re-enactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave.

This section includes two and three-legged birds and animals made of vegetables, straw and plants. Massive straw owl and camel sculptures inhabit fields and vegetable animals compete for prizes at the Lambeth Country Fair, and a topiary animal resides outside a house.

The Ephemeral includes examples of creativity, which are temporary, due to the nature of the material used and location. The examples include elaborate floral arrangements, crop circles in fields, sand sculptures on beaches and constructed bonfires.

Hand-painted signs and posters announcing food stalls, restaurants, grocers and supermarkets bring to light the immense skill and creativity employed in everyday advertising. Images of succulent burgers, hot-dogs, fried eggs, and potato chips reveal the preferred fare of beach-goers, while milk packs, loaves of bread, bottles of wine and cigarettes are seen as the staples available at local grocery shops.  

Home highlights a range of images of ‘home’; ranging from a camping site sign, a caravan, the painted exterior of a shed, and a ‘protest house’ (Clare Street Protest House, Cardiff) in which the occupier of the house got into a dispute with the City Council in 1984, and made his house the vehicle for his protest over the subsequent years, by plastering texts of protest on the exterior of his home. This section offers an intimate view of the personal interventions that individuals make in adorning their houses and gardens, making each one a unique reflection of the people who live in them. 

Henna-painted hands at a wedding and a heart constructed with pebbles in the sand are included as visual manifestations of the expression of love. The outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana in the form of floral tributes speaks of intense love and loss. One of the interesting images in this section is that of a motorcycle hearse that promises a last dignified ride for the departed. 

Performance includes a range of quirky and humorous community activities that are performative in nature- competitions, carnivals, circuses and processions. For instance, the week-long Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria that was established in 1387, incorporates wrestling, cycle races, egg throwing, dog shows, talent contests, pipe smoking competitions and the World Gurning Championships, where contestants make ugly faces after taking a bite out of a crab apple in a remarkable display of facial acrobatics.

The costume of the ‘Burry Man’ is also displayed. During the annual Ferry Fair in Queensland, Scotland, local residents apply to the Council to be the ‘Burry Man’, and dress up in a flannel costume that is completely covered with burrs, the hooked fruits from native Burdock plants. 

Politics includes an anti-racism banner made by Ed Hall who has made over 400 banners for trade unions, activists and community groups. Images of massive street murals, anti-war displays, pensioners’ protests, and ‘Fathers 4 Justice’, an organisation that highlights their perception of inequality in family law brings to light the visual nature of politics in everyday life.

Many of the works of art from prisons were acquired through the Koestler Awards Scheme, a charitable foundation aimed at promoting and rewarding creative endeavours from men and women held in prisons, young offenders institutions and special hospitals in the UK. There is an annual exhibition and sale of works and prizes are given in a variety of categories that cover music, writing and the visual arts. This section also includes a display of tattoo guns made in prisons with a ‘homegrown’ technology using a toothbrush, ball-pen refills and wires. 

Alternative modes of publishing are celebrated in this section, which includes a poem scribbled on a pavement, an inscription scratched onto a tree, a modified newspaper cutting, a commemorative plaque, graffiti, and fake parking tickets.

Visits to the seaside are a regular feature of leisure activity in the UK. A profusion of hand-painted clairvoyant hand signs indicates the popularity of fortune tellers. Two coffins from the window display of a ‘Joke Shop’ are included in this section too. 

Tea and Cakes introduces audiences to a culinary ritual that is an intrinsic part of daily life in the UK. Images of quintessentially British puddings and bakes such as Apple Crumble, and Lemon Fairy Pudding were drawn from the Pudding Festival in Braithwaite, Cumbria, which is held at the Braithwaite Village Hall as a fundraising event for the local school. Over 100 cakes were donated. 

We are surrounded by visual images in both urban and rural areas. ‘Street’ includes hand-painted shop signboards, a sculpture of a spine announcing an Osteopathy clinic and a fast-food van ‘McDobos’ that riffs on the popularity of McDonalds. 

A range of transformed vehicles forms this section, which includes images of painted vans and trucks, and modified ‘Smart Cars’ with handcrafted neon fittings and motion sensitive light switches, ‘Tod Rod’ and cars at the NASC Supernationals. 

Work and Play blurs the line between occupational and creative activity. Individuals modify the tools of their trade, transforming a welder’s mask by painting on it; a cold storage door is made personal by plastering it with photographs of family and friends. Sport makes its presence with a three-dimensional betting shop window, images drawn from the popular animated sitcom South Park for a sports team fan club; pub and shop frontages, and sick-note envelopes transformed by doodles.