Feather that went to the Top of Everest

Cornelia Parker (1956 - )

Photogram

1997

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: USA
    City: Washington DC
    Place: British Embassy

    Cornelia Parker's "Feather that went to the Top of Everest" is a beautiful image in itself and points to wider concepts of time and place. The feather photographed here was taken from the jacket of Rebecca Stevens, the first British woman to climb Mount Everest. It is almost a relic, providing an entry point for us into the experience. Parker was interested by the irony that the white feather is traditionally a symbol of cowardice, and that it was taken to a height that birds cannot fly, reminding her of the story of Icarus.

  • About the artist
    Cornelia Parker RA (b. 1956) lives and works in London. One of Britain’s most celebrated artists, she works across sculpture, installation, embroidery, drawing, photography and film to investigate processes of transformation and suspension and to explore the times in which we live. Parker has presented numerous major commissions and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, notably at Tate Britain (2022), the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2019), Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster (2017) and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2016). In 2010, Parker was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts and made an OBE. She received a CBE in 2022. In 2017, she was appointed as the first female Election Artist for the United Kingdom General Election. Her works are held in public and private collections around the world, including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Fundación “la Caixa” in Barcelona, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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    Materials & Techniques
    photogram, photograph (as object name)
  • Details
    Title
    Feather that went to the Top of Everest
    Series Title
    Up Down Charm Strange
    Edition
    1/5
    Date
    1997
    Medium
    Photogram
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Frith Street Gallery, June 1998
    GAC number
    17329/1