LONDON — Completedworks designer Anna Jewsbury managed to capture the attention of an intimate audience for 20 minutes in Gordon Square park in London’s Bloomsbury on Friday, and not one pigeon dared to interrupt the performance.
Novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza penned a three-act play inspired by the French sculptor Camille Claudel, which actor Dianna Agron read out in the character of a biographer called Eliza, who is having an internal conflict within herself.
Other parts of Eliza’s monologue were acted out by a violinist and the model Lily Cole.
Anna Jewsbury of Completedworks.
Courtesy of Completedworks
Mirza took her cues for the play from the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition on Claudel that she had visited this year.
“I really wanted to explore the way women, or the way anyone, can find a lot of freedom through mischief and play — and who are you when you’re alone?” the novelist said.
“There are so many echoes to Camille’s story today,” Mirza added, referring to the fact that the French artist only became recognized for her work after her death.
Jewsbury’s designs added layers to the clever script.
Completedworks spring 2025.
The character of Eliza comes alive in her wide metal cuffs or crinkly statement earrings.
Other pieces in the performance included mismatched clusters of pearl drops; grid-shaped cubic zirconias; recycled silver and brass that have been folded and crinkled, and delicate pearl bracelets.
“I love the deception of materials, where hard forms look like very soft and supple fabrics,” Jewsbury said in a preview.
“We always try to do something quite classical, but with a subversive element or something kind of unfamiliar. If you start from a place of familiarity and take it somewhere new, it can really bring your references into a modern context,” she added.
