Deacon and Charles Booth-Clibborn began discussing the print project in late 1995. At that time the artist has made a series of small drawings and there had been discussion about the possibility of using these as the basis of a series of linocuts or rubber stamps. Gradually the idea shifted towards creating a portfolio of screenprints based on a number of the artist’s photographs, which he had grouped loosely under general headings that reflected an unconscious repetition of images. A trail print (plate E) was made and this prompted the artist to incorporate the photographs and the drawings, using the drawings as a kind of postage stamp on top of the photographic image. Deacon selected 12 drawings that in some way matched or echoed the photographs. The photographs were produced as large screenprints and the drawings were printed life-size on top of them. The title of the portfolio is taken from an American educational game, whereby pupils bring and object to school to ‘show and tell’ the class about it. The earliest photograph in the portfolio dates from 1988, the most recent from June 1996.

In Print Contemporary Art from the Paragon Press, The British Council 2001 Text © Patrick Elliott