Matthew Cowan’s practice is in the realm of traditional British and European customs. His works are photographs, videos, installations and performances, which play with the inherent strangeness of the continued popularity of long established folk customs in a modern world.

These works can be viewed as mock folk performances in themselves, playing with the elements of folk rituals that give people a link to the past. In particular, the English have peculiar relationship with their folk traditions that is part uneasiness about their past, and part fascination with spectacle and long established ritual.

In investigating the celebration and performance of folk traditions, a primary theme is the presence of humour and subversion of the usual social order. This comical reversal is a  key to understanding the point of people’s enjoyment of folk and ritual traditions

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