Created in response to a brief to re-activate an extract from Tate Britain’s Public Records archive, this project focuses on a 1964 article from The Hindu that falsely quoted Pablo Picasso referring to himself as a ‘public entertainer’ who made art as ‘games and nonsense.’ The quotes were later traced back to a fabricated interview by Giovanni Papini — also referred to as the ‘Picasso clown quotes’ (Boston Globe, 1973).

I created a series of papier-mâché masks layered with fake headlines and quotes on the outside, and Papini’s portrait on the inside. The viewer sees the distortion; the wearer faces its source. The papier-mâché method reinforces the concept: layer by layer, the masks take shape — just like repeated fake news can build a version of truth. That danger is echoed in a line from my exhibition text, borrowed from a German carnival song. “PASS OP, PASS OP, PICASSO” — a playful warning not to let hoaxes stick.