Pomp was the finalist entry in Wolfson College, Oxford’s inaugural ArtPrize 2023. The title borrows from a line of Shakespeare from Henry VII: 

“Why,what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And,live how we can,yet die we must.” 

The Greco-Roman column and the Dionysus motifs on the vase are a direct reference to Pompey and are used to reinforce the idea that nothing lasts forever. All great men are replaced and civilisations fall to make way for new ones