Miami Art Week

The 2023 Catalogue

Each of the six textured, monochromatic works in this series pays homage to Manchester, the city where Waggett was born and raised, and whose influence continues to underpin her practice. As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Manchester embodies a dual identity: one shaped by working-class resilience and another by Victorian ambition and ornament. These histories are intricately woven into the material language of the work.

Layers of precious metals are distressed, stripped back, and built up again, echoing the city’s many transformations, from industrial powerhouse to contemporary centre of culture, science, music, and activism. Light becomes an active agent within these compositions, shifting their surface and meaning according to time, angle, and perspective.

Through these evolving interactions, the works treat the city as an archive, a living palimpsest of labour and reinvention. They trace the passage of time not as linear progression but as accumulation, where material bears witness to cycles of change and the enduring imprint of place on collective identity.