{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O140689"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140689/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA0965/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GA0965/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GA0965","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA0963","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA0964","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O140689","accessionNumber":"E.21-2006","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Umbrella for <i>Portable Fabric Shelters</i>","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"In 1994 London Printworks Trust, a leading  not-for-profit workshop and studio for artists and the public alike, commissioned a group of artists to make work for an exhibition  <i>Portable Fabric Shelters</i>. The theme was global migration, the condition of the refugee and the homeless. Sonia Boyce made a group of works, including blankets, a tent and this umbrella. Around the edge of the umbrella she printed the brows and closed lids of a pair of eyes. Boyce has spoken about the idea of getting inside someone else's head, in the sense of really understanding their point of view and experience. The umbrella itself can represent a form of shelter. Using one in a crowded street is a way of creating a haven, in which, momentarily, strangers are kept at arm's length. Alternatively, inviting another to share the space beneath can be an experience of intimacy. Seen from outside the closed lids both attract and exclude the onlooker. Screenprint made it possible to reproduce a photographic image, increasing  the sense of there being a real person behind the closed lids and brows. The screenprint process also made it possible for the umbrella to be produced as an edition.","physicalDescription":"Umbrella on a single non-collapsible central spine. Waterproof silver cloth printed in black with repeat, symmetrical, images of  eyebrows and closed eyelids round the margin, and hair at the centre point. The umbrella has a long finial and a slender, curved handle covered in black leather","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Boyce, Sonia","id":"A2839"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"London Printworks Trust","id":"C6809"},"association":{"text":"printer","id":"x30811"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"screenprinting","id":"AAT53281"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Screenprint on rubberised fabric attached to an umbrella frame","categories":[{"text":"African Diaspora","id":"THES48873"},{"text":"Artists' multiples","id":"THES48991"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Caribbean","id":"THES286921"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2013GA0965","2013GA0963","2013GA0964"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CAT (VA)","id":"THES49167"},"free":"","case":"11","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1995","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"1995-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"90","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"open","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"86","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"16 of 22  S.Boyce Apr 95","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"edition number, signature and date, in black ink on underside at margin."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Sonia Boyce: Umbrella. Made for 'Portable Fabric Shelters' at London Printworks Trust, 1995.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"homelessness","id":"AAT55306"},{"text":"intimacy","id":"x41261"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.21-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"21","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"16/22","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-11-16","availableToBook":false}}