The True-Born Englishman is a project that continues an
engagement with ideas of how individuals might think of,
or describe themselves, in relation to a perceived personal
community whilst also addressing tensions at the level of
a national cultural identity.
The title derives from Daniel Defoe’s satirical poem
of 1701, The True-Born Englishman . In the poem he responds
to Tutchin’s, The Foreigners ; a work that marked
the accession of the new king William III, who was Dutch,
by attacking the corruption of the purity of English blood
by foreigners. Defoe’s reply derided the idea of racial
purity and national superiority.
A True-Born Englishman’s a Contradiction,
In Speech an Irony, in Fact a Fiction.
A Banter made to be a test of Fools,
Which those that use it justly ridicules.
(from The True-Born Englishman)
The True-Born Englishman is a semi-autobiographical work
(in fact a fiction?) that traces a narrative common to many
children/grandchildren of migrants. It takes a side-ways
look at what it means to be British/English by considering
particular moments of disruption in a family lineage that
eventually lead to the construction of a new, perhaps hybridised,
identity. As pertinent today maybe, as at any time since
Defoe wrote his satire, issues of migration, assimilation
and cultural diversity come under scrutiny in a sound and
projected image installation featuring a voice-over, spoken
in a number of European languages, set against video footage
from particular geographical locations specific to the narrative.
The True-Born Englishman is one of a series of works encompassed
within a generic project, Fault-lines. As a body of work,
Fault-lines takes the notion of the scapegoat as a point
of departure; seeking to explore the aftermath of instances
where individuals or groups are found to be at fault and
looking at the implications of blame in contemporary British
life.
