I was Invited by West Dean College of Arts and Conservation to be their Artist in Residence in March 2020.

Sausage Fest as a body of work was initially developed during this residency within the college’s furniture-making department. Cut short due to the Covid-19 epidemic I returned in Feb 2023 to continue and extend my post as Artist in Residence.

During the residencies, I explored the West Dean Archive, focusing on Edward James’ commissions of Surrealist interiors, and his relationship with Salvador Dali. Samples of unique features of the West Dean Estate were revealed including elements from Monkton House. These samples were used within the initial commissioning process to show scale, colour, and potential. Tempting James to invest in whole rooms, staircases or hallways full of dream like objects, textures and manifestations.

James’s support for Dali was testament to this process. They had a very close working and personal relationship, where works where made through collaboration, conversation and happenings. This process had one distinct expectation. James, as patron, footed the bill. 

As a body of work, Sausage Fest celebrates the commissioning history behind Edward James’ Surrealist interiors, his support of artists but also to his queer relationships with them. The form of the sausage came from a queer / homosexual reading of their relationship. Their Patron and artist relationship was complex, close but manipulative. 

Sausage Fest Swatch is a way to tempt James to fill a whole room full of sausages in a  herringbone parquet flooring format. This travelling salesman sausage display unit is floor-standing, wall-hanging and corner-hugging in order to help James imagine the delights of a sausage filled room all for him.  

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In response to the pandemic, I applied for Art Council England funding to develop ways of working with archive collections at distance. This resulted in becoming West Dean's first remote Artist in Residence between both physical residences. This allowed me to continue my investigation, complete said artwork and create a larger body of work.

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Photography by the artist & Paul Samuel White