Cat and Mouse…
Is a playful way to illustrate a certain type of power struggle. This game of constant pursuit, capture, and escape is a trope of fables, fiction, movies, and cartoons. Will one win over the other, or are the combatants locked in a never-ending game where the upper hand is gained, but eventually lost?
After her enemies forced her to abdicate her throne on July 24, 1567, leading to unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Queen Mary of Scotland fled to England, seeking the protection of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth confined her in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England.
Queen Mary was a skilled needlewoman and sewed many embroideries while she was under house arrest in England. An important means of expression for Mary, her amazing collection of embroideries featured fantastical beasts, Latin sayings, and hidden meanings…
One embroidery in particular, Mary’s embroidery of a cat, is imbued with hidden meaning. The cat depicted has red fur, a nod to Elizabeth I’s red, Tudor hair. The cat has its paw on the tail of a mouse, stopping it escaping. Is this a reference to the power struggle between these two female monarchs, or to Mary’s imprisonment, where the meek mouse, though under the cat’s foot, is bound to escape?
The Decatur Arts Alliance invites artists working in all media to submit work that explores the meaning of the game of “Cat and Mouse” in all its aspects: historical, political, and moral. Like the embroidery of the imprisoned Queen of Scotland, hidden meanings, games, and feints are encouraged in all works…
