The title of this film is taken from the inscription on a bench on the top of a hill, at the highest point in the landscape of Compton Verney, designed by Lancelot “Capability” Brown in his ideal vision of the British country house. By appropriating this statement of contentment as a critical tool to inquire how perfect it really is and who is the ‘we’ that is so blessed, I inserted my body into the landscape as a reminder of historical absences and erasure, and the legacy of colonialism. The film is narrated, however, in the register of an address to an absent lover. A personal history and a lover’s yearning doubles as a critique of violent and exclusive histories.

Exhibition at Compton Verney Art Gallery, 16 March - 13 May 2022

Screening during PUSH Festival at HOME Manchester, 26 January 2023

The Ingram Prize Exhibition at Cromwell Place in London, 22 - 26 November 2023

CREDITS

Artist & Performer: Babar Suleman

Creative & Technical Support: Charles Phillips

Supervisors: Dr. Oliver Cox, Heritage Engagement Fellow at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and Dr. Amy Orrock, Senior Curator at Compton Verney.