The Trophies of Empire (1985) is an installation featuring a constantly looping Slide/Tape sequence comprised of one hundred and sixty two 35mm transparencies (two Kodak Slide Carousels each containing 81 transparencies) and an ambient audio track.

This work, features ‘Letraset’ transfer lettering applied directly to the surface of the transparencies, a technique directly influenced by ‘Expeditions One: Signs of Empire (1983) by Black Audio Film Collective. The work takes its title from Donald Locke’s 1972-4 work ‘Trophies of Empire’.

The work was first displayed as part of the exhibition ‘Black Skin, Blue Coat’ at the Bluecoat Gallery Liverpool (April-May 1985) featuring the work of Sonia Boyce, Tam Joseph, Eddie Chambers and Keith Piper.

For this exhibition the slide/tape sequence was displayed as part of a mixed media installation with sculptural elements, unstretched canvas banners and audio from a constantly repeating record deck playing a scratched album of Elgar 'Pomp and Circumstance'.