Pete Murgatroyd

Cornish Studies Library
17th – 29th October
Future Project Residency with Cornwall College
Opening hours during the festival: 10.00 – 17.00 on Friday, 10 – 16.00 on Saturday

‘New Jack City’

Pencil &  ink on paper

Pete is currently undertaking a residency at Cornwall College as part of

The Future Project, where he has been researching the history of Redruth.

Inspired by the works of Breugel, the Dutch renaissance painter known for his busy scenes of everyday life, Pete has woven a selection of stories and characters from Redruth’s past into his work to create a new narrative imagining a future version of Redruth as a modern utopian project.

The work includes buildings from Fore Street and famous local figures from engineers Murdoch & Trevithick, opera singer Fanny Moody and scientist and folk historian Robert Hunt to modern day artists such as Richard D James (Aphex Twin) along with allusions to the great Cornish Diaspora and Cornish customs like & ‘The Baptism for the Dead’.

The title of the work New Jack City is a play on the term ‘Cousin Jack’ which came into use during the great migrations of 1861 and 1901. It also makes a link between the pioneering electronic music of Cornwall and the afro futurism of Detroit Michigan; one of the many areas that Cornishmen emigrated to in the mid 1800s (look out for the ‘Drexciyans’ arriving bottom right of the picture). It is also a reference the modern term ‘Swagger Jack’ meaning to steal content or styles at will for your own gain and amusement, which in a way is how the piece came to be.

Pete is currently developing a companion piece exploring the Folklore and Mining that form a sub-conscious of Redruth town.