CHOP CHOP

Wood, paint, black wax, blackthorn needles, 2024

CHOP CHOP takes its cue from the sword-dance in The Wicker Man — the instant when a folk ritual stops being charming and shows its teeth.

The blackthorn structure is bound like the crossing blades, sealed in black wax and made under a new moon. It’s a banishing piece — not symbolic, functional.

The Roses-and-Castles frame grounds it in my lineage: working-class ornament hiding older, sharper knowledge.

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a spell built as an object. A relic. A small act of defiance against the forces that seek to reanimate meaning to suit a fairer class. CHOP CHOP is reminder of what survives.