A Heavy Weight
The paper backing
this was presented at
a conference (Ad-Dressing The Margins International Symposium) in 2023
following an invitation
from the board.
An experiential history
project focused on
bringing attention to
pivotal moments in
history
This piece concentrates on Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and the issues she faced during her ascent - specifically John Knox. Knox was a protestant priest who truly believed that women in the rule are “repugnant to nature” and printed a long manifesto, detailing every reason for his thinking in a pamphlet called “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women”. This was printed and distributed as the young Queen was ascending the throne. Elizabeth had to lead Britain into the Golden Age of Britain with a heavy weight on her shoulders. The project consisted of recreating the coronation mantle that Queen Elizabeth wore and emblazoning John Knox’s manifesto across the entire 6 yards of the cape. I then took it to the streets of Austin. I interacted with people, asking them to try it on and how they felt in it. After some discussion, I would tell them the history behind it and ask them to evaluate how they felt about the piece now. The piece is an experiment of creating embodied learning experiences as a way to teach history rather than learning it through the traditional channels of books and classrooms.