Things Do Not Leak From My Handbag
2024
Pipe cleaners, galvanised steel
20 × 17 × 3.5cm
For the project, On Having An Outside, I researched the symbolism of handbags in particular with relation to ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. I was particularly drawn to her use of a handbag as a symbol of status, power, femininity and a 'weapon’ as well as it being a useful object to carry and conceal items – combining form and function.
The outside of a handbag is on show but the inside is a private space. This is place where Margaret Thatcher concealed documents she illicitly took from the Cabinet Table (1). I burnt the initial sculpture, created with pipecleaners, thereby changing not only the overall appearance but also revealling the ‘private’ inside.
Quotation by Margaret Thatcher, and inspiration for title, “I usually say my handbag is the safest thing in Number 10, things do not leak from my handbag—they leak from everywhere else ….:”
From an interview with Sue Cameron on Channel 4, Parliamentary 25 July 1990. Transcript of interview margaretthatcher.org
