The Landed Gentry
Beneath the gilded façade of the British aristocracy, a sinister reality lurks. These images expose the parasitic nature of its power, built on the suffering and exploitation of others. From the crumbling ruins of their ancestral homes to the grotesquery that lurks in their shadows, these images challenge the romanticised view of the landed gentry, revealing a legacy of oppression that continues to shape our world.
Historically a class of British landowners living off their estates, the landed gentry here embody corruption and exploitation, evoking enslavement both literal and metaphorical. Their privilege appears sustained by the suffering and labour of others.
Grotesque figures behind them suggest the parasitic nature of power; the lifeless bodies register its human cost, from economic abuse to historic atrocities. These juxtapositions contest the glorified image of the aristocracy, exposing systems of oppression originating in and underpinning the grandeur of the ‘old world’.
The images intend to strip away the veneer of respectability to reveal the twisted, unsettling reality, one that confronts a legacy of exploitation and corruption that still reverberates today.