Thy Cities Shall With Commerce Shine - Part II

Hattie Wade received a grant for the development op Thy Cities Shall With Commerce Shine - Part II: an installation work concerning Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance marketplace. It is widely known for its iconic Grade I listed building, and its monopoly on insuring the slave trade, during which the first forms of Kidnap and Ransom insurance were conceptualised. The installation proposes that the Heritage status of this building is synonymous to the heritage of the hidden networks of its functioning that are still in place from slavery, and are still being used to extract capital and profit from death. This will be shown through manipulation of the building, resulting in photo-realistic 3D renders as prints displayed as a museum exhibit. On first glance it looks like a historical display of monument, but on closer inspection, there is tension conveying a different story.

Hattie is a research-based artist based in the Hague. Her practice stems from an interest in the dissemination of information, and a desire to counteract harmful dominant social and institutional narratives in Europe. She critically researches how past institutional violences are recreated and maintained through legislation; law, education and corporate policy which results in a lack of social mobility. She juxtaposes this research with narratives from mainstream media, education and heritage practices which can lead to what she describes as ‘toxic nationalism’. A social sentiment that buys into the underlying heroic narratives of a country. Her interest lies in the subtle permeation of these narratives through society, and aims to reveal this through historical research to offer a counter-narrative. As this research is usually very dense, she aims to make the intangible tangible, injecting emotion and space into the data. The resulting forms span audio-visual and spatial work.