Her work plays with femininity and the fetishes and expectations around the female body and experience. Perhaps uniquely, English explores the way the aristocracy, and its luxuries and pressures, have shaped our understanding of women through centuries of metaphors. Her wry, Jilly Cooper-esque “pony play” pieces are still vaguely shocking today; a naked woman in the saddle, a naked woman wearing a tail—there’s a frankness about the images that brings out the blustering, “Well I say” in the viewer, revealing just how deep some of that old cultural conditioning goes.

Rose ENGLISH is best known for her contributions to the development of performance art in Britain. Emerging from the conceptual art, dance and feminist scenes of the 1970s, English has developed an extensive interdisciplinary practice over the past 40 years, honing a unique artistic vocabulary that has consistently analysed and commentated on aesthetics, politics and philosophy, including aspects of British pop culture, from show girls and show horses to magic acts and pantomime. Her work challenges conventional understandings of both feminism and femininity through the combination of forms with which she engages, including theatre, circus, poetry and fine art, producing acclaimed performances but also works in other media such as film and installation.