Jessica Hughes

Cecil 

Cecil is an old man.

I won’t specify his age, as it’s impolite, but be satisfied that he had lived an exhaustingly long and bustling life before he removed himself from social circles to live out his days alone in this world of his own, with no cares for social cues or the business of the day, in seclusion and peace (finally).

His go-to choice of   sparse   attire is a bright pink colander, which he sports as a hat. At his time of life he lives purely for his own amusement and, according to him, clothes aren’t terribly amusing. The colander, however, was a gift and therefore an exception.

It was a gift to welcome him to the neighbourhood, a show of hospitality from the three goblins that live within the deep murky depths of his oven (right at the back in that area which is universally pesky to clean), what with him recently having moved in just beyond their home (a Multifunction Oven with Hoover HPRGM60SS Gas Hob) it seemed the thing to do.

Cecil’s new neighbours love mischief, unbeknownst to him at the time, and had taken great care and attention when picking out his housewarming gift from the various spoils of their kitchen cupboard raids.  Coated with remnants of slimy green beans, crusted with yellowy potato smush, and slick with cloudy slime from pasta water, the colander had never been washed. Neither by them nor the previous owner. They’d sniggered and scoffed whilst polishing the outside with their spit, and a splash of olive oil for shine!

Cecil’s aforementioned age means that he isn’t as wary as he used to be (and he wasn’t all that timorous to begin with.) and as a result, and in stark contrast to his aversion to clothes, his tolerance for the weird and wonderful is remarkably high.

So when all three had jumped out the oven whooping and cackling to give him a fright, he’d simply raised an eyebrow and stood brazenly bare before them. Speechless, they’d offered him their gift to recoil and shudder at the sight of, anticipating the rage and chase that was sure to follow; how fun it would be to chase another tenant away!

Yet much to their surprise, he’d wordlessly seized the present, turned it here and there in inspection, then smirked and placed it atop his aged head. The Goblins sniggered and begun to laugh as Cecil expressively tugged his headwear into a fitting position until the goo and grime fused with his hair, and stuck fast!

He’d felt a tickle as a strand of spaghetti slid down his neck and back,

“Hehee! Ah well, I’m glad you di’n’t spend o’er much!”

Try as they may, the goblins couldn’t shake dear old Cecil to rage, and he went on to embrace his new accessory with flare, just as he embraced his new neighbours as the amusement they’d proven to be.

Jessica Hughes is an English visual artist who recently received a BA in Fine Art from Kingston School of Art, London. She is primarily an illustrator, photographer and acrylic painter. 

My practice is centred on finding the whimsy in the mundane; appreciating and manipulating the tiny details and fantastical elements of daily life to depict a scene that feels emotionally familiar yet exists in the realm of the bizarre.

The past few months have been emotionally charged for us all, my various works on “Cecil” came into creation as a way of breaking free of my quarantine cabin fever as I drew inspiration from my own household. In my final year at a London school of Art, I was supposed to be excited at the prospect of my future as a newly graduated creative, instead it was hard to feel optimistic in the face of such uncertainty and by the lack of supportive funding to the art sector in the UK. Quarantine sharpened my interest in mundane domestic elements. 

I have translated my feelings of isolation and fragility into this elderly body, sagging and aged by experiences of its own. But with “Cecil” these experiences could be balanced by the spontaneous creatures he shares his environment with. 

These pieces relate to the rebirth of each of our own unique curiosities and mentalities over recent months, where we lived in isolation with our thoughts and little else.