Hope, detail from 'The Key', 2006. Cross-stitch.'The Key' is an ever-expanding work, exploring the connotations of nounal images. Using the format of legends found on maps, a stylised image is presented with a one-word label. The images are drawn from a variety of folk and contemporary colloquial sources. The labels range from the conventional to the seemingly absurd.
Hope may appear to be an exmple of the latter, but this ancient symbol of fertility reflects the instinctive hope for survival and growth that drives the human race. As genetic sciences and IVF develop the phallus is an image infused with conflicting meaning - redundancy vs potential. It is an object that, Germaine Greer argues is attributed too much power by the British legal system. It is an object that is considered humorous and offensive.
As with all the items in 'The Key', Hope is fallible.
