These mysterious historic slides came to me by chance. Intrigued by the ‘1830’ sash on the mannequin, I used this to develop a storyline. I discovered it was the year of the English Swing Riots when labourers rioted over the introduction of new threshing machines and the subsequent loss of their livelihoods. Threatening letters sent to intimidate farmers were signed Captain Swing. The decomposition of the slides suggests entry points to other forms of vulnerability, fragility and resistance. To further evoke an unsettling engagement with history, I have solarised the images and employed a copper tone, linking the colour of the earth to human agency.
