#Saveoldflo
Drawing Series
Exhibition, ‘Mise-en-Scene’ at Bermondsey Project Space, 20th September – 5th October 2013
‘Old Flo’ is the affectionate name given to Henry Moore’s sculpture Draped, Seated Woman by residents of the Stifford Estate in Stepney Green, east London. The sculpture was sold to London county council at a low price in 1962, and installed beside three high rise tower blocks. In 1997, Old Flo had to pack her bags and move to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, after the demise of the Stifford Estaste. In 2012, Tower Hamlets Council announced they were going to sell the sculpture at auction. (This decision has since been reversed, following a legal battle in which Bromley Council won ownership of the sculpture. See https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/08/henry-moores-old-flo-statue-declared-property-of-tower-hamlets-council)
Amy was one of the winners of ‘Flogo’, a competition launched by the artist Bob and Roberta Smith to find a logo to represent Old Flo in her battle to be saved from auction. Amy then developed her relationship to the sculpture through a performative practice that involved cycling around London on an old bike (also named ‘Old Flo’), and creating a drawing series that imagined the sculpture’s journey back home. Amy drew the large, timeless figure on the train, peering at street signs and visiting Tate Modern. In contrast to the Council’s plans to sell off the sculpture as a financial asset, Amy imagined Old Flo as a living member of the community. Her work conjures up an emotional relationship between Old Flo and her old home in London, at the same time as it traces Amy’s own connections, as a draughtsman , with Henry Moore’s work.
The Old Flo series was included in an exhibition at Bermondsey Project Space, curated by Cullinan Richards, which featured Amy’s drawings, an installation and a performance. The performance brought Old Flo inside the gallery, where she opened her suitcase to reveal a video projection of a typewriter live typing a poem about her journeys. Amy also developed a series of tattoos commemorating Old Flo.