LAUGHTER INCARNATE - CLAUDE CREIGHTON (SA)

The swashbuckling comedians of years gone by were Fools - not stupid, foolish people, but sharp tongued persons who entertained and offered wise council to the wealthy. The Fool was a constant companion to medieval masters and mistresses, transcending the boundary between the common people and the gentlemen of the court.

Claude Creighton’s latest body of work LAUGHTER INCARNATE investigates The Fool. Using fabrics and drawing they explore and reimagine The Fool’s motley costume, actualising a garment that grants a common person the freedom to reflect and to speak. They apply a more simplistic method of transformation and story-telling to material as a means to animate the inanimate. They manifest visions that stitch, layer, and regenerate while thinking about the fools role to transcend class boundaries, the powerful and the powerless and what may transpire when the jesters suit is removed at the end of the working day.