Cutting Up the Queen

On Wednesday 9th September, Queen Elizabeth the Second of Great Britain enters the record books as the longest reigning monarch of the British Isles, clocking 63 years, finally surpassing the previous holder of the title, her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was also Empress of India. The British press and the media are oozing with adulative sycophancy, focussing again on the little old lady who rules the roost and wields the power, although she’d rather avoid too close a scrutiny.

This poem I wrote for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 sums up my own opinion of the monarchy. If you seriously believe in true equality, how can you possibly support the idea of a special ruling elite, superior, not by talent or merit, but simply by inheriting the blood line of a conquering dynasty of kings?

Anyway, what with all the artistic hoohah going on about the record-breaking Queen (how much longer? She’s 89, for God’s sake!), I thought I’d add my own contribution to the commemoration with this small collection of collages featuring Her Majesty that I’ve knocked together over the past couple of years, whenever inspiration and material fell to hand. It’s a relief to be in a country where freedom of artistic expression exists. In Turkey I was thrown into jail and charged with insulting the Prime Minister of Turkey with one of my collage images.

A few notes about a couple of the pictures:

VICTORY shows a jubilant David Cameron kissing the Queen after the recent Conservative victory. (The picture shocks because the Queen is untouchable.)

SALUTE TO AUSTERITY was inspired by the recent shock discovery of an old home movie of the Queen making a Nazi salute as a young girl. Her wages have zoomed up while the poor people of the UK face vicious austerity cuts. (Or is UK sexist? Should it be UQ? United Queendom? After all, she is a woman.) Poppies from the Tower of London tumble into the moat, each one commemorating a life sacrificed as gunfodder for King and Country, (or Queen, of course.)

 

PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE PEARLY QUEEN 1 SALUTE SPANK VICTORY

You can see more of my collage artwork here – http://yabanji.deviantart.com/art/50-Shades-of-Black-548534438

 

Michael Dickinson can be contacted at michaelyabanji@gmail.com.