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'The Great Dance'
Andrew Gilbert
'The Great Dance'
Andrew Gilbert
(2009)
70 x 100 cm
Watercolour on paper
Ten Haaf projects
Photo: Adelina Krupski
British officers are dancing with their wives, all depicted as yellow birds. In the centre of the work Andrew Gilbert can be seen as Messiah, being born to Queen Victoria. He also appears in the top right corner, drawing the scene in his sketchbook. At the bottom of the page is a line from the 1855 poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. This makes it clear that that all the officers dancing will be killed the next day. Then the slaves (the brown birds) will take their wives.