PAUL MCPHATER
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BREXIT


THIS WORK WAS INSPIRED BY THE IRONY OF A GOVERNMENT INVOKING HENRY VIIITH POWERS FOR A PROCESS SUPPOSEDLY INTENDED TO "TAKE BACK CONTROL" FOR PARLIAMENT. IN ONE STEP PARLIAMENT WAS EMASCULATED BY A FEUDAL HANGOVER FROM TUDOR TIMES. THIS WORK SHOWS BRITANNIA LITERALLY WEARING BREXIT.

Brexit was and continues to be somewhat perplexing. A monumental decision taken by the British public to remove ourselves from the European Union without too much detail on how that would happen or what it would entail. Certainly we were told we would be "taking back control" and that was attractive to the majority. In this work I sought not to tackle whether this was a good or bad decision but rather the irony that when looking to empower the UK Parliament at Westminster, one of the first things the Government had to do do was invoke 'Henry VIII th' powers so as to install whole swathes of European law into British law such that they then could be modified etc later. Parliament would be sovereign and yet straight out of the gate Parliament was being straight jacketed and kaiboshed into approving enormous amounts of laws without the ability to amend at this stage. I started to think about the moment Brexit won the referendum, how Britannia would have reacted and how we might encapsulate Tudor style politics with a modern Britain apparently poised to reassert itself on the world stage. ​


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    • BREXIT
    • DECISION POINT
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    • FUTURE ARTIST
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  • Latest Work
  • Portfolio
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