Diana was a princess of public consciousness who transcended class boundaries, beloved by everyone. They called her the People’s Princess of all things. In 1997 her death was a sensational event equaled by our infatuation while she was alive. I am interested in the spectacle surrounding Diana. She was so adored, so scrutinized, and yet such a banal woman. Her aura is more remarkable than her self.
Diana is the pre-Internet equivalent to our current celebrities and yet her celebrity endures. Picture books, my primary source material, are antiquated compared to online gossip websites and it is difficult to imagine a popular demand for such coffee table books to be published today.
But these cultural artifacts do not become lost online as they are eventually resold and rediscovered in secondhand shops. They are readily available at Value Village or the Salvation Army. I have chosen to display five hundred buttons with no knowing repetition in imagery. Diana sees the camera, she doesn’t see the camera, she avoids the camera, she poses for the camera. We are intrusive voyeurs into her life and death, and yet this accessibility was part of her appeal.
The People’s Princess is kitschy and tongue-in-cheek but also, in a way, genuine.
