Just finished this mythologically seditious poster.
If you're not familiar with the story, it's said that if the ravens leave the Tower of London the British Empire will fall and the monarchy will collapse. There are a minimum of 6 ravens in the Tower at all times, with one 'spare'. In the interests of national security, their wings are clipped to keep them off balance so it's hard for them to fly away.
In the type of preposterousness that can only be found in Britain, the ravens are officially enlisted as British soldiers and can be dismissed for undisciplined conduct or desertion. In the 1980s, "Raven George", a suspected comrade, was retired to Wales for attacking and destroying TV aerials. In 1996 two more Ravens were dismissed for "conduct unbecoming", which if you know any soldiers, you can only imagine how bad the conduct would have to be for that to happen.
Ravens are incredibly smart and likely frustrated by captivity. Two of the ravens separately figured out that they could cause havoc by playing dead, which I would like to think of as a form of protest. Over the years, some have successfully escaped, but more recently, only one raven named Munin managed to make a break for it, before being caught by an awful member of the public and returned to his prison.
I'm doing some limited edition prints, available here.
