Gisant

1.Noun
Tomb effigy – relief or statue on the top of a tomb depicting the deceased lying in death.

2.Adjective
Lying (in a horizontal position).

I don’t think the reality of the knight is as static as those graves would have you believe. These alabaster effigies betray no fear, no pain. They simply are what they are. Order exemplified.

The truer knight lies underneath all that stone and metal. He is something else. Something more than an unmoving and romantic paragon. Something writhing.

Brother, as we examine together those knightly codes of virtuous conduct and tales of limitless striving, tell me of the contradictions you see within. Tell me of the cowardice present in every triumph. Make my hero a man and then make him bleed. For it is the fool who refuses to see the cracks in every living thing and every effigy. It is the fool who stands against the wilds.

This work examines the striving and inevitable decay embodied within the figure of the knight. It seeks to uncover the dynamic, subversive reality that exists under a surface of stone and virtue. 

This work was shown as part of ‘The Space Between’ at Photofusion in June 2026. This work is available in a limited quantity of softcover books. Please Dm me @separate_shutters or use the contact form to enquire.