Di's Eyes: The Rich are Different

Di's Eyes: The Rich are Different
Book, mirrors, judas, found objects, penlight.
22.5 x 14.4 x 6.25cm (9 x 5.75 x 2.5in)
1997

She had remarkable eyes. Clear powder blue with a touch of melancholy. They were not quite innocent yet not piercingly knowing or wise.

To the public, Diana Princess of Wales, was a princess of the fairy tale variety, the object of every projection, male and female alike. In private she was a tortured soul struggling with many demons. Her public life was a constant round of duty and paparazzi.

She became the spokeswoman for the movement to ban landmines. There is a classic photo of her with a black African child whose one leg had been blown off by a left over land mine. Hounded and abused by the press and the royal family, it seemed only a matter of time before she would be driven to self-destruction.

Despite her privileged social status one could not help but feel certain empathy for her. But she was different.

When she was killed in the awful crash in the tunnel in Paris running from the media eye, the outpouring of grief was stupendous. There had never been anything like it before, or since, to match the public display of raw emotion. It was epic in and of itself. The death of a real live fairy tale princess was apparently very hard to receive.

When she died I had just begun to develop the Ex Libris idea. I came across Susan Howatch pulp novel The Rich are Different in a used bookstore. I thought the title quite apt bringing a double reference to the fact that Diana was rich and lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous and to the infamously misquoted quote between Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Looking through the viewer you see directly in front of you and to the left, a hand reflected in the mirror representing the royal "wave". More to the centre a black doll with one leg is the boy from Diana's involvement with the anti-mine movement. In the far right corner in the background is the red doll of her demons. The light coming through the mirror on the left is the flash of paparazzi cameras. On the ceiling are the words The Rich. Above the words are her lips. And finally in the background are her pale blue fairly tale princess eyes. Di's Eyes.