Quoting Queen Caroline, 2023
Cast bronze
2m x 1.2m x 3cm
Hammersmith Pumping Station
Chancellor’s Rd, London
Commissioned by Tideway as part of the super sewer public art project, this permanent work is on display at Hammersmith Pumping Station.
The sentiment expressed on this plaque is a quote from the dynamic, and often controversial, Caroline of Brunswick, Queen in waiting, and an 18th century radical superstar celebrity. Caroline lived in Brandenburg house, very close to this location in Hammersmith. Her legacy is marked in the naming of streets and buildings in this locale, and further celebrated by this permanent artwork.
Artist’s comment: “It is thrilling be involved in the Tideway journey, this gigantic piece of infrastructure that will soon transform London’s murky water. No big stinks for us going forward, what a joyous prospect that is! Artists don’t often have the opportunity to work in conjunction with such vital, enormous engineering projects.
I am delighted that Caroline’s clear words are commemorated as a marker of feminine intelligence. On the subject of intelligence and its dark mirror, stupidity: back in 2018, at the time of proposing this quote to Tideway, I optimistically nearly agreed with these sparky words - it is, perhaps, harder to do that today. We live within new and fractured realities and are harshly compromised by the torrents of poisoned disinformation that circulate in our networks, challenging our thinking and belief systems. As Isaac Asimov observed: “when stupidity is considered patriotism, it becomes unsafe to be intelligent””.