A history

Abstract

'A history' is an artists’ book (edition of 10) made from Corrugated card, tissue paper, newsprint, letterpress, binding screw and string. The book presents repetitions of the phrase “1. the factory, 2. the school, 3. the workhouse, 4. the prison” taken from a note by Humphrey Jennings in his anthology ‘Pandaemonium: The Coming of the Machine As Seen by Contemporary Observers (1660-1886)’. Jennings comments on ‘The History of Derby’ (1817) in which W. Hutton recounts his experiences as a child apprentice at the Derby Silk Mill c.1730: “The abstract horror of the image derives in part from the unspoken acknowledgement of the truth as far as 18th century poor were concerned: 1. the factory, 2. the school, 3. the workhouse, 4. the prison, were all the same building.”