The Cheltenham Sweep is a series of paintings of stills from a fictional horror movie. Created during my residency at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, the work uses the museum as both setting and subject, transforming its spaces, collections and inhabitants into the backdrop for an imagined horror narrative. Friends, fellow resident artists and museum staff appear as characters, blurring the boundaries between the everyday life of the museum and the fictional world of the film.

​

The film's antagonist, 'The Old Man', is based on a zinc chimney sweep trade sign held in the museum's collection. Removed from display and denied his place within it, he returns to seek revenge on those around him. A figure from the past who resists being left behind. 

​

Drawing on the visual language of 1980s horror cinema, the series carries queer undertones, most notably in a central character who undergoes a process of change through their confrontation with the monster. As with much horror of that era, nothing is stated outright,  meaning surfaces through atmosphere, suggestion and the genre's own visual codes; passages, stairs, physical transformation and nude encounters. Using the museum as the main setting, I was drawn to more suspenseful moments that hold a quiet tension, suggesting the presence of what cannot be seen.

 

Using my own photographs alongside images sourced from the internet, there was no explicit narrative. The exhibition included directional handwritten notes alongside the painting, I invite viewers to construct their own narrative around the scenes depicted.

​​

​​​​​​​The exhibition ran from 8th April - 14th May 2023.

The Artist is Residence is part of the We Are Creators initiative for the Wilson Art Gallery and Museum. ​​