‘The Cover Up’ takes the form of an improvised diatribe spread over several years of Conservative Party rule, by a member of this country’s ‘underlying trend’. In addressing a number of subjects and events that evolved over the period – unemployment, unions, the role of art making, unemployment, civil defence, economic policy, unemployment, Iran, Hysel, Chernobyl, bureaucracy, hypocracy, unemployment… – the tape takes two differing styles, an un-coordinated rant across a range of issues by a man wandering King Leah-like through a desolate factory site and the interjection of a sophisticated ‘voice of reason’ distanced bu various media processing and never fully revealed.

The basic premise underpinning the work is a concern for the suppressed rage of those left out of the mainstream image of prosperity that has been attributed to this country throughout the 1980s. What action can be taken when your potential, pride, and community history is derided, devalued and destroyed?

Sourced from Doug Aubrey’s personal archives.

Leaflet for Da da da da dada! – a film and video programme curated by Jeremy Welsh and Michael O’Pray. Includes ‘The Cover Up’.pdf here

The Cover Up, Poster by Pictorial Heroes, 1986.pdf here