Introduction

Making the Empire Cross is a series of lenticular images, which take an irreverent look at contemporary geo-political figures and events. The images form a loose narrative featuring a motley cohort of plastic toys dressed in custom made costumes, and set against illustrated comic backgrounds. They come to life playing out scenarios which are in many ways less ridiculous than the reality of the politics they parody.

After the commencement of the Afghanistan war, I was not sure whether I should be more disturbed by the war itself, or the abundance of cheap war toys which seemed to flood the market at that time. My response was to collect them over a period now spanning 4 years. Gradually they formed the basis for this work, the darker side of which ponders the ways in which popular culture and media have been used to make the case for a conflict which is relatively unsupported outside fundamentally conservative communities (of all religious persuasions). Yet despite its black humor, it is my hope that the work is not heavy handed or angry.

The lenticular medium also plays an important part in the visual language employed by this work. You can learn more about what lenticular images are in this section. The medium is popularly used to create engaging images for children. Here its fun, frivolous and toy-like nature, and a comics aesthetic, is subverted to reveal how even the most unlikely stories can make their way into popular culture and into the realm of ‘truth’, principally through media associated with entertainment.

The artworks are large scale lenticulars, which animate as a viewer walks by – the largest being 75 cm x 75 cm. These are much larger than the ones you may be accustomed to, but if you want a small lenticular from the series, you can buy one from the site as I have had a limited number of small ones made. They vary in size but the largest is 10 x 10 cm.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the work – info@priscillabracks.com.