I have decided that the first show that I curate at Cecil Sharp House will be a Handkerchief Show. I am still sorting out the details of what this will involve, but I am interested in approaching a wide range of artists to make work on a single blank handkerchief.
With the help of Peta in the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library, I have been researching references to handkerchiefs in folk song, and unsurprisingly, given its rich symbolism there are a lot of references. Perhaps the most well known though is the Song Flash Company, with its reference to a Yellow Handkerchief: "take this yellow handkerchief in rememberance of me..."
So there is the title for the show. Perhaps the tale of ruin and poverty caused by high living and abandon is an apt metaphor for the artists of our time. We'll see.
