Tears for Murphy

I'm super excited to be involved in an exhibition as part of an ongoing project by Joel Millerchip. Tears for Murphy explores how young people grieve and how they react to death and memorialise tragedy in different ways (eg tattoos, Facebook pages etc). Joel was inspired by a story about his pet rabbit as a child,

"when Joel was 3 years old he had a black and white rabbit called Murphy. The Rabbit lived in the garden of his grandparents house in a hutch that was made by his Grandfather out of old sections of wood and chicken wire.
Joel and I visited his Grandmother on the way back from shopping one morning. While my mother and I had a cup of coffee Joel went outside to feed Murphy. 
After a while Joel reappeared in the kitchen with his hands cupped in front of his chest asking whats happened to Murphy?!.
Unfortunately the handmade hutch wasn't strong enough to keep out predators. A fox had attacked Murphy in the night and all that was left was several balls of rabbit fur and Murphy's tail, which Joel had cupped in his hands".

Tears for Murphy depicts grieving rabbits - enter me and my sewing skills making 5 giant wearable rabbit heads for a photo shoot. I'll also be making a series of black handkerchiefs, each embroidered with various details - roman numerals, portraits and the hashtag #tearsformurphy which you can follow on instagram. This ongoing project of Joels will then result in a one - night - only exhibition at Doomed Gallery, Dalston, London on the 3rd September, with a big send off for Murphy.

You can follow my work in progress shots and the build up towards the exhibition with the hashtag #tearsformurphy on instagram. For more details on the show, contact Joel here.