Z is for ZOMBIE We made it! Day 26 of our A-Z for The Horror Show! Zombies trace a history to Haitian folklore, but our modern idea of the zombie owes much to George A. Romero’s film ‘Night of the Living Dead’. These zombies were created by radiation from a satellite returning from Venus. It seems most contemporary zombies originate from scientific catastrophe, unlike original zombies, who were reanimated with magic and voodoo. The familiar lank hair and peeling flesh of the modern zombie are all present and correct in Jake & Dinos Chapman’s ‘Return of the Repressed3’. We hadn’t seen this piece before, but when we first talked to @jakechapwoman about The Horror Show! he immediately suggested this. It is incredible. As is Paul Finnegan’s zombiefied piece at the very start of GHOST - originally shown in the Sensation exhibition. It’s no surprise that the idea of undead, flesh-eating ghouls speaks loudly to our contemporary malaise. Our vainglorious leaders in this zombie government would like nothing more than for us to believe there’s a common enemy — marauding, ravenous strangers/others who are out to get us. Stewart Home’s ‘Necrocard’ provocatively speaks to a possible intersection of death and sex. Carrying one of these donor cards enables you to leave your body to sexual experimentation. @stewarthome1 was turned down by two printers, before a third muddled up the orders and printed 50,000 cards. This project is an important reminder that humour can be deadly serious. David Shrigley’s ‘I’m Dead’ is another piece in show that considers what happens after death. Occupying this interzone somewhere between living and dead, a tiny taxidermy cat proudly holds up a protest sign that simply states “I’m Dead”. No longer living, yet existing in an afterlife-of- sorts, immortalised in a work of art. It’s a knowing acknowledgement that in the end, death is inevitable. And that’s okay. In the end, maybe horror matters because it teaches us not to be scared. The Horror Show! @SomersetHouse opens in 1 day (eek!) Ticket link in bio Alphabet typography by @BarnbrookStudio #TheHorrorShow #zombie #JakeandDinosChapman #StewartHome #PaulFinnegan #DavidShrigley