It’s made me feel it’s OK to be an artist with a social purpose, though my wife hates the beard
I
have spent the first three months of the past six years trying to become the 19th-century designer and activist William Morris. I grow my hair and beard to look like him, while immersing myself in his work.
On 24 March – his birthday – I dress as Morris and finish the quarter with some kind of absurd performance to highlight pressing social issues that he was concerned about, and that I want more people to focus on today.
I first came up with the idea in 2020, but I had been reading and thinking about Morris for nearly a decade.
