Sambo And Freud (1997)
The event that led to this work happened at Christmas, 1991, but, as recounted here, I then dismissed it until, a few years later, I was having coffee with Cornelia Parker, Stuart Cameron and Susan Butler and told them the story.
They encouraged me to revisit the images and send them to Erica Davies, then Director of the Freud Museum, London. She liked them and, in October-November 1997, the pictures were installed in the Museum, on the first floor above Freud’s study.
At the same time, an artist’s book was produced, with the set of six images accompanied by a text .
Both the pictures and the text are presented here, but the combination works particularly well in book form and copies of this publication can still be obtained direct from this website – see details under ‘Contact’.
A separate section below contains a slideshow of contextual images. These include other (uncontaminated) shots taken at Sunderland Point and in Freud’s study. The contact sheet shows the genesis of the work and is a reminder that it was only possible in the age of 35mm film. Finally, this section shows the placement of the images in the Freud Museum.
Sambo and Freud has also appeared in other significant contexts. In 1998, the essay and an image were published in Manticore (no.3), the journal of the Leeds Surrealist Group. And in 2003, all the pictures were reproduced and the essay translated in the Greek journal Inside, Outside and on Psychology (no.3).
Images and text are also available on the website of the Freud Museum: www.freud.org.uk
