David Mabb investigates the aesthetics of William Morris designs within contemporary political culture. William Morris (1834–1896) was an English designer, poet, utopian novelist and socialist. Extraordinarily, Morris’s Rose fabric was used to upholster the interiors of British nuclear submarines from the early 1960s to the mid 1990s. In response to a visit to the HMS Courageous submarine, Mabb created a new series of works to investigate the Navy use of the Morris print to furnish the Vanguard class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. As a socialist and an anti-imperialist, William Morris could never have anticipated that his designs would become the symbol of English homeliness in a nuclear submarine. Prompted by the work of British historian EP Thompson, whose biography of Morris was republished in the 1970s when he was a leading intellectual in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Mabb re-appropriates Morris fabric from the Ministry of Defence, bringing the designs into conjunction with a range of anti-nuclear protest signs and slogans. The sculpture utilizes fifteen late 20th century film projection screens, and a public seat using fabric reclaimed from a submarine. A selection of reference materials is presented in a vitrine.

Also included in the Broadway Gallery are "Placards for Mutinous Submariners". Prompted by the work of British historian EP Thompson, whose biography of Morris was republished in the 1970s when he was a leading intellectual in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Mabb re-appropriates Morris’ Tudor Rose fabric from the Ministry of Defence, bringing the design into conjunction with the anti-nuclear peace sign on two painted placards.

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/27764