About this artwork

In this work, the music score for the Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas gospel song ‘I Wish I Knew How It Feels to be Free’ has been embedded into a sheet of white paper. Unlike traditional print-making, no ink has been applied to the paper. Instead the score has been pressed into the page using a lengthy embossing process. In certain lights the paper appears almost empty, whilst in others the shadows cast from the embossed design leave a ghostly trace. Hopkins regularly makes use of pre-existing, printed surfaces or designs such as music scores, furnishing fabrics or maps, which she distorts to give them a surreal, otherworldly quality.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Louise Hopkins (born 1965) English
  • title:
    I wish I knew
  • date created:
    2006
  • materials:
    Embossing
  • measurements:
    31.00 x 46.00 cm (paper 57.00 x 75.00 cm)
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased 2007
  • accession number:
    GMA 4832 E
  • gallery:
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Louise Hopkins

Louise Hopkins