This is the project I was working on before the Signs and Wonders project for the collective Wrights And Sites. It's also related to the Pendle Witch trials and is entitled "The Cabinet of Charms". Having read the story of the Pendle Witches prior to the main project, I felt I wanted to make a piece as a tribute to the people of Pendle who were tried and hung within three days, on spurious evidence, by a fearful king. What was their real crime? Being poor.
The dress itself is a found object, which I then transformed to host a collection of 400 hand-made charms, one for each year since the trials in 1612. They all relate either to the witches themselves, or to British charms of protection. You may notice I use a lot of red thread; red thread knotted around the finger was seen as a protection against being cursed. In the creation of the charms I have tried to disperse the dark shadow cast upon these people four hundred years ago. I made all the charms out of natural objects found in and around Sussex and Pendle.
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