​

PAPILIO

2024

Historic England, Selby Abbey & North Yorkshire Council

​

​

This installation sat in the north west corner of the Romanesque monastic church at Selby. Begun in 1069 the abbey has survived raids, near collapse and in modern times a devastating fire in 1906.

​

Papilio is made up of cloth printed with foliate designs, inspired by carvings in the abbey. The patterns were created using high resolution scans of wild plants gathered from the churchyard last spring.

​

Papilio is Medieval Latin for butterfly or tent. The piece is the complete opposite to the solid fabric of the building and referencences the temporary structures of markets, fairs and festivals both past and present.

​

It is sacred, profane, baroque, gothic, celebratory, incongruous, fleeting, monumental, spire-like, shrine-like, theatrical and uncanny.

​