Lady Primrose
2025, Fibreglass & steel, Commissioned by CALA for Wolvercote Mill
Named after a ghost said to walk the paper mill in the 1920s, Lady Primrose takes the form of a Fibreglass swan.
The physicality of swans is a flowing, organic shape which mimics that of a germinating seed. Forms like these occur in nature from the infinite to the infinitesimal… Their floating, spirit-like, presence evokes the passing of time, their life cycle in sync with the seasons.
The Swan family also ran Wolvercote Paper Mill for over 30 years. They were the first to use steam power and forged a relationship with Oxford University Press.
Originally a paper mill, the site has gone through physical and social transitions, something which swans have historically symbolised in literature. Their reliance on the river echos that of the the historic mill whose paper those ideas may have been inscribed upon.
Lady Primrose began as a papier-mâché sculpture, handmade and childlike, with a material honouring the history of the mill site. This first sculpture acted as a mould for the fibreglass, later supported by a steel frame.
Other decorative elements like flowers, happy homes and skulls are derived from drawings done by children in the local community. The yellow blooms repeat the primrose motif, messengers of British springtime which Celtic folklore said to mark the entrance to the faerie world...