The Reproachful Head of the Green Knight: Exploring the eerie, liminality, deep time and duration in ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’

Abstract

The outcomes presented in this article represent a body of fine artworks that respond to the medieval poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ (c.1380), culminating in the realization of the monstrous head of the Green Knight. I outline influences from an extended base of film, and television, including direct adaptations of the poem, and thematically relevant sources that include analogous narratives; as well as looking at fine art sculpture and painting that have informed my making strategies. I also discuss my theoretical framing of the poem which asserts the Green Knight as an eerie agent of temporality. The relationship between liminal space and monstrous intrusion on the subject is explored, looking to French philosopher Henri Bergson and English writer and cultural theorist Mark Fisher to articulate the subjective implications of deep time manifested in monstrosity. The article charts the ways in which academic research has combined with studio practices to develop and enrich ideas, allowing for a dramatic error in production to become an attribute of a finished work.