Janet E Davis

My screenprint shows part of Housesteads Roman Fort, with the South Gate in the foreground. Three genii cucullati (hooded spirits) stand outside the gate. Against the dark clouds above, two Chinooks circle over the Wall and northern side of the fort while visitors explore the archaeology. The genii cucullati are based on a carved stone relief found in 1933 in a niche of one of the buildings just outside the fort (there was a substantial civilian settlement outside the fort’s southern wall).

Depictions of hooded spirits were quite common in North West Europe but they were only shown as a trio of spirits in the British Isles. There is still debate about what these spirits represent, some saying they represent prosperity and fertility. Their depiction indicates well-fed, middle-aged men who are still young enough to stand guard, protected from the weather by their British woollen hooded cloaks. I imagine that they have swords underneath those cloaks. I think there is a protective element to them, that they protect the place and bring prosperity to those who live there.

Why Chinooks in the sky? Many years ago, my work involved Hadrian’s Wall. I was there for a site meeting one day when rain clouds were gathering. We were startled by a sudden thunderous noise and looked up to see two Chinooks had risen up the cliff face to the North. they hovered low over the site for a short time. It was unnerving. The first time I read the Schedule of Ancient Monuments in Northumberland and saw how many Roman camps were recorded North of Hadrian’s Wall, I was surprised. Military exercises continue in the county today.

I did some research on what coloured cloth might have been worn by the Britons in Roman times: the brightest seemed to be yellow from weld, blue from woad and red from madder root, with other colours possible through mixing those dyes. There may have been other bright dyes imported, of course. Roman soldiers are often depicted with red cloaks but I felt that the genii cucullati wouldn’t have had Roman Army cloaks so decided theirs would be yellow. The indigo of woad is in the clouds, and the Chinooks are a green of deepest woad with a dash of weld (or the nearest I could get to them in modern inks). The screenprint is based on drawings with pencil on paper, some digital collage together with digital drawing and painting, and pen on film.

The screenprint is in 5 layers: black, indigo, dark green, green, yellow. Small areas of additional colours have been added to the visitors to the fort in coloured pencil (process red, slate blue, violet)