A new Great Expectations-inspired exhibition lets you get lost in Dickens' landscapes

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Ailis Brennan15 March 2018

Artist Louise Weir is delving into the murky world of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations through drawing at a new exhibition.

Opening this week at the Charles Dickens Museum in Holborn, Expectations of the Past is an artistic analysis of the locations and characters featured in one of the Victorian writer’s most celebrated novels.

In her research for the work, London artist Weir visited many of the locations that Dickens based scenes on, including St Mary’s Church at Cooling which served as the inspiration for Pip’s first graveyard meeting with escaped convict Magwitch.

Weir connects directly to the brooding landscapes by using natural elements in her work, such as using seed pods as drawing tools and mixing mud with paint.

The work is also influenced by the loss of her father, incorporating ideas of childhood memories, bereavement and revisiting the past.

“I’m creating this landscape that’s not really Dickens, it’s not really me,” said Weir. “It’s this place that exists in between. I’m creating a make-believe space, somewhere where there are ghosts.”

Expectations of the Past runs at the Dickens Museum until April 29

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