JENNIFER MARTIN: Retrospective 2- ...she really couldn't sleep a wink (with acknowledgement to Mr. Anderson).

This is an exhibition I had at egetal in 2006. It was based on this text (which is based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale The Princess and the Pea) and it is the pre- history of the 2005 exhibition.
...so far they had all been phoneys, fakes, counterfeit princess's. All glitz, all bling & sham (not to mention their ridiculous wigs) Where was the real & true princess. The old Queen ranted & raved throughout the palace, cursing & cussing as only true royalty can."What will become of my only son? He cannot sit alone on the throne" (actually she was really over this whole being Queen thing & just wanted to retire & go on a round the world cruise)
Little did they know that galloping through the deep, dark forest was the Princess Mirabelle (affectionately known to family & friends as small yellow plum). She had become hopelessly lost. Luckily though a nightingale took pity on her & she followed its song out of the forest all the way to the palace gates. The bedraggled Princess was given a bed for the night but not before the old Queen thought "We'll find out quickly enough if she's a true princess" (how?) Well she placed a pea on the bedstead then stacked twenty mattresses & on top of the mattresses twenty eiderdown quilts. Princess Mirabelle had to climb a ladder to get to the top of the bed. Having always been taught to be gracious & polite she didn't mention her aversion to heights. Not only did she suffer from vertigo the Princess also had terrible insomnia (why else would she be galloping around the forest in the middle of the night). So poor Princess Mirabelle spent the night tossing & turning & clinging on to the bed for dear life. The next morning when the Queen asked her how she had slept she replied rather haughtily "well actually I couldn't sleep a wink". Before she could go on to give a detailed account of her insomnia & vertigo the trumpeters started trumpeting & the Queen started bellowing to the cooks in the kitchen to begin sifting the flour & cracking the eggs for the tallest, royalist wedding cake ever.
...And so the pea became world famous
The Prince & Princess DID fall in love
And the old Queen got to kick up her heels
on a round the world cruise for over 35s.
(I must have thought 35 was old in 2006)
Katherine Bowman helped me install this exhibition and the previous one. She is soon to have a solo show at egetal and it looks like it is going to be absolutely stunning. Definitely something to look forward to on the jewellery calendar.