The “Resident” works are quilted rugby jerseys made from vintage Gucci scarves, gesturing to another female icon of British power, Queen Elisabeth II. The Queen was often photographed wearing Gucci scarves, particularly as headwear for horseback rides and other bucolic pastimes. Reconstructed as rugby jerseys, they take on the form of the early activewear garments popularized by brands like Patagonia and The North Face. The rugby jersey also has a connection to Denny’s own biography as an artist born in New Zealand, where the colonial game has a special place in the national culture. Rugby is a lasting relic of the Queen’s influence in the Pacific; these works’ names come from the title of the “resident minister”, an authoritative general required to take up permanent residence in a colony, dependency, or protectorate. Historical connections between outdoorsmanship, regulation, and power in the British Empire and beyond are stitched together into these quilted matrixes of found material.
Adventure Apparel Assemblages are garments made from repurposed materials, sourced for their rich connotations which weave together symbols of capital, adventure, and global power across history.
In the “Remainder” and “Power Vest” sculptures, Denny repurposes Margaret Thatcher’s old scarves to create knock-off Patagonia sleeping bags and Nano Puff vests. Through these objects, Thatcher’s neoliberal agenda – advocating free markets, deregulation, and privatization – is positioned as a spiritual predecessor to Silicon Valley, where these garments abound, and the ideologies that flourish there. While the vests conjure a sartorial meme from tech and finance, the sleeping bags are caught between signifiers – simultaneously suggesting camping kits and homeless encampments – invoking the rampant wealth inequality of San Francisco and beyond, accelerated by Thatcherite austerity.
