Mutton Fist Press

Trecena is series of twenty prints created by Maia Gaffney-Hyde for a residency project at Mutton Fist Press.

The prints are based on stone carvings of the patron gods of the Aztec sacred calendar, the Tonalpohualli. The calendar is 260 days long and is comprised of twenty 13-day periods known as trecena. Each trecena is governed by a particular deity which oversees the rituals and ceremonies of those 13 days. This series of prints represents those trecena deities.

E L Palmer’s novel Luxury Complex (Impress, 1972) depicts a 21st century upmarket housing development, built on the grounds of a derelict children’s hospital, part of a secret programme to convert public health facilities into secure residences for the wealthy. As the new owners move in, sentient spores of black mould begin to seep through the walls of their luxury apartments, and on into their dreams. Contagion becomes parasitic control and gentrified apocalypse ensues.

A forgotten but prophetic pulp horror, Luxury Complex apparently predicted the true story of ritual abuse at the heart of London’s contemporary property market. In 2015 Lisa Cradduck, Marc Hulson, Dean Kenning and Andy Sharp interpreted and adapted the tone and tale of Palmer’s forgotten novel as an exhibition.

To celebrate the publication of Adelle Stripe's essay about the exhibition; 'New Faces in Hell' in 'Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall', we offer you these artefacts of Complex Luxury for purchase.