The Lord of Fire
The Lord of Fire is a collage created for the 2024 Encyclopaedia of Great British Collage exhibition at Northlight gallery. It is constructed from antique royal souvenir memorabilia and encyclopaedia pages. King George V wears the turquoise mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, which was looted from the Aztecs by Hernandes Cortez and eventually found its way to the British Museum.
Xiuhtecuhtli was the the Turquoise Lord, the Aztec god of fire, a powerful creation deity associated with life after death, heat in the cold, light in the dark, and keeper of the cosmic calendar. Fire rituals were held in his honour.
This piece is the partner of Obsidian Butterfly, another collage featuring George V’s wife Queen Mary as the Aztec goddess Ītzpāpālōtl.
A video retrospective exhibition featuring this collage can be viewed on YouTube: No Kings! A Post-Colonial Scottish collage exhibition.
The original collage is also for sale. Get in touch for more information.
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