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By Tony Heaton 1994

A simple, visual pun, constructed from two ex-ministry Vessa Wheelchairs.The experience of Great Britain from a Wheelchair is somewhat different.

‘Great Britain From a Wheelchair’

'Great Britain from a Wheelchair' is a map of Britain made from parts of two grey NHS wheelchairs.  When Tony first told me about this work as he was making it, it seemed a rather foolish and unworkable idea.  I was wrong: it's wonderful - I described it elsewhere as 'like a disability version of one of my very favourite art works, the bull's head which Pablo Picasso made from a bicycle saddle and handlebars.'  First seeing it, in the 'Unleashed' exhibition earlier this year, I found that initially it just looked like a lot of bits of old wheelchairs.  As with those 3D prints, it took a while to adjust perceptually.  Then suddenly it sprang into place - a complete, startlingly real map of Great Britain. 

A delightful game, it forms a wonderful repudiation of the value judgement ('This is for some tragic bastard', in Tony's words) implicit in the wheelchairs.

Allan Sutherland (edited from DAIL magazine)