For fifteen years Tim Noble and
Sue Webster’s dark, witty and original works have addressed issues
of sexuality, identity,
self-representation and taboo.
Inspired by the Museum’s Egyptian collections, they have
painstakingly produced a unique silhouette work. A simple spotlight
transforms an apparently amorphous heap of mummified creatures into
two silhouettes of the artists' faces.
Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s use of
animals echoes that of their Egyptian
predecessors. Ancient Egyptians believed that gods could
take the form of animals. Cats,
dogs, birds
and other creatures were bred to be mummified, then sold to
pilgrims who offered them back to the gods.
Dark Stuff examine
our attitudes to life and death, beauty and the grotesque, and
invites that perennial question (often asked about the ancient
Egyptians):
‘How did they do it?’