Deconstructing remnants of the British Crown’s influence on contemporary value systems and the tension between adventure and power, Resident 1 takes the legacy of activewear as a point of departure, combining two garments that have popularity among business people of different eras: the rugby jersey and puffer vest. This hybrid jersey-puffer reflects the British royal family’s enduring influence on global capitalism and the colonial networks in which the finance sector operates today.

Featuring bucolic designs from the 1970s by the Italian artist Vittorio Accornero, the appropriation of these scarves resonates with the British Empire’s legacy in the Commonwealth of Nations and Her Majesty’s love for the outdoors. Accornero’s colourful silk prints are dissected into an ordered assemblage of geometric and botanical designs in an exercise of bespoke upcycling that overlay symbols of elite power onto a mass market sportswear form.

The title, Resident 1, is derived from the term ‘resident minister’, a general who is granted legal and political jurisdiction of a colonial outpost. Resident ministers have been instrumental in shaping the legacy of the Commonwealth nations, in which sports like Rugby are cultural relics of the empire’s lasting influence.

Resident 1 (2021) is an evolution of recent series of works Power Vests (2020) and Remainders (2020); quilted vests and sleeping-bag sculptures produced with Salesforce and Patagonia garment patterns using scarves from the personal collection of The Right Honorable Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the late former Prime Minister of Great Britain.