WE COME IN PEACE

Commissioned by curator Charlie Levine for the UK City of Culture 2021.

Produced in collaboration with the Coventry City of Culture Trust, the Coventry Business Improvement District, and the Royal Institute of British Architects with the support of Arts Council England

The installation creates a series of sentinels that celebrate global diversity. These figures utilize textiles and masks that refer to tribal and native pasts which, though fragmented, remain active in multiple traditions today. The visual impact is defined by long, cascading strips of fabric that lend the figures an ancient, totemic presence.

The title, We Come in Peace, carries a significant critical weight. It ironically invokes the language of historical colonial encounters to instead assert a profound vision of peace for the global community.

This message gains new urgency in our current era of planetary expansion. The work suggests that as we look toward the stars, we must carry this fundamental belief in peaceful coexistence with us.