Alison Baxter’s installation created a three dimensional visual animation of Evelyn’s life through small scale vessels, containers and larger scale sight specific work made from thread, fabric and metal.

 

The White Room was Evelyn James’s bedroom from 1892 until 1912. Evelyn was the mother of Edward James, the renowned patron of Surrealist art and founder of West Dean College.

 

The anecdote quoted all the time within the College to describe Evelyn is in context with the central figure of Edward:

 

‘She was heard calling up the main staircase one day ‘Nanny, Nanny, I want one of the children to take to church, and my Nurse replied ‘which one Madam?’ She said ‘the one that goes best with my blue dress.’’

 

This gives a one dimensional portrait of a woman who, as well as being a mother, was an entitled heiress, a prominent society figure, a wife and an accomplished amateur actress. Young women in this stratum of society were valued for their decorative attributes and were often portrayed in a very one-dimensional way with a focus on their external appearance.

 

This installation challenged these perceptions taking inspiration from the different aspects of her life discovered through research in the Edward James Archive.