THE GILDED FLEECE  is composed of twelve tanned Awassi sheep skins cut into rectilinear sections and joined through an industrial accordion stitch. The exposed flesh side is coated with refined rabbit collagen and covered with 24-karat gold leaf, applied using brushes made from horse and squirrel hair.

The work binds multiple animal bodies into a single surface. Sheep, rabbit, horse and squirrel are brought into direct material relation, their bodies appearing variously as skin, adhesive, tool and support. What reads at first as a unified field is therefore assembled through the remains of several species.

Its gold ground recalls illuminated manuscripts made on parchment, while its rectilinear scale and frontal presentation also evoke the blank billboard: a surface prepared for inscription, image, value or command. These references place the work between devotional image, manuscript surface and contemporary urban display.

The title draws from the myth of the Golden Fleece and its pursuit of an object invested with extraordinary value. Gold, associated with permanence, is fixed to skin, a material marked by decay, binding the corruptible to the incorruptible.

Commissioned by Qatar Museums for Design Doha, M7, Doha, Qatar, 2024. Collection of Qatar Museums.

Final image by Edmund Summer