Sajida Talfah, 2007
Graham Hudson

In a welcome departure from the project’s usual practice, when Graham Hudson was invited to show in the Napoleon Garden he agreed to make a site specific work.  Taking as his starting point the two distinct ideas of “garden” and “Napoleon” Hudson began a meditation on how a contemporary military dictator might also need his times of rest and recreation… in short, his Josephine.  Working with the “found” objects that have become his preferred materials, Hudson put together items associated with the supply of power (an oil drum and a couple of cable reels) and a collection of the type of container that the goods of our consumer society come packed in… the humble cardboard box.   A kind of standing monument or figure emerged.  Fragile, only just holding “herself” together, the sculpture was named for Sadaam Hussein’s first wife.   It was, from the start, part of the concept of the work that it would change and respond to its site over time.

When the weather worsened with the approach of winter the artist intervened to wrap the upper part of the work in burka-like blue tarpaulin.  At that point there was a certain amount of press coverage in the tabloids in which the word “rubbish” featured prominently.  The sculpture emerged from under the blue cover in the Spring to a newly open and welcoming arrangement of boxes.  Then, one night, someone burned it to the ground, giving it yet another form and set of associations.   A final intervention by the artist saw it assume a different incarnation as large, bud-like forms seemed to grow from the charred shell.  Like a developing insect the sculpture went through five major transformations and quite a number of smaller, less dramatic ones, in an installation that followed its own imperatives, responded to its environment and invigorated the space in a way none of the previous works had done.  Both artist and Curator regarded it as a great success.