The Empire's Old Clothes by whatsthebigmistry

The Empire’s Old Clothes is a short non-linear film which challenges the insidious myths and propaganda around the ‘British Empire’ and draws on influences, aesthetics and politics from Indian and Afro-Futurism, queer culture and experiences of ableism and racism in post-Empire Brexit-Britain. This short non-linear film borrows from the symbolic style of ‘tableaux vivant’, science education films and Empire propaganda.

This piece is inspired by the folktale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, which tells a story that speaks about the ways in which the perpetuation of deceitful narratives support out-dated and malevolent power structures continue to work even once ‘outed’. It utilises and subverts the language/s of Empire and embedded belief systems that live within it.

This work is commissioned by Unlimited, and Disability Arts Online (DAO), with support from ONYX and is in response to the Queen’s Honours List. It was brought about specifically because Unlimited’s senior producer was awarded an MBE (Order of the British Empire), which she accepted, a controversial and awkward decision. This work is at once a provocation and an invitation to rethink and rewrite ‘histories’, to demand change and define what it really means to take action against racism.

The Empire’s Old Clothes is not only for those who Identify as British, those of dual Heritage or those who have a ‘British Experience’, the awkward, queer, Dis/abled and those who experience exclusion. But seeks to connect to those who don’t experience racism, think Empire ended and consider colonialism obsolete.

The Commission was made by an intersectional BIPOC / Global Majority Identifying team of artists and professionals. This work was set to give a challenging stark contrast to the national celebrations planned Jubilee and Commonwealth Games.  It became public in 2022, a year when the Queen’s death saw this work removed from viewing at The Southbank Centre.

Image: 01. Empire’s Old Clothes ARTIST whatsthebigmistry IMAGE Simon Alleyne, Lazer Breasts

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