The Spitalfields Heritage Centre, 19 Princelet Street, E1

Site specific installation

Peopling of London Exhibition, Museum of London / Whitechapel Open 1994

The installation, situated in the basement of the building, consisted of four 12 metre lengths of purple silk* seamed together and stretched over a large frame (3m x 12m) covering most of the floor area.

The piece was lit by ambient tungsten and natural light coming from the synagogue area above via the old heating vents in its floor. The vents projected shifting areas of light and colour onto the silk screen floor below.

The site was originally occupied by Hugenot silk weavers from about 1750. In the 1860s a synagogue was added to the back of the house when Jewish refugees arrived from Russia, and in the 1980s it became a place where Bengali garment workers were taught English.

*Rationale: Research for the work revealed that the ancient method of dying silk purple, used by Jews in Palestine who wove and dyed silk for the Romans, involved a photochemical process that turned the dyed fabric from yellow to purple. Coincidentally, photographs (35mm film) taken in the basement space showed that light coming from the ceiling vents echoed this colour change ― negatives showing the light as purple, positives showing the light as yellow.