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  1. Culture
15 February 2013updated 27 Sep 2015 3:57am

Picture Book Of The Week: Chateau Despair

Inside the abandoned Conservative party headquarters.

By New Statesman

This portrait of Margaret Thatcher is taken from Chateau Despair by Lisa Barnard (GOST, £25). It is one of eight photographs of the former Conservative prime minister unearthed by Barnard in the Tory party’s former headquarters in Smith Square in Westminster.

Barnard began photographing the building, which the Tories left in 2004, in August 2009, when the party was still in opposition. The images she shot formed part of a project entitled 32 Smith Square. Memories of Conservative governments past haunt the empty, slightly dishevelled offices and meeting rooms in Barnard’s pictures. In her afterword to the book, Sarah James writes:

“[Thatcher’s] presence lurks everywhere behind the detritus of Smith Square, and reanimates its ghosts.”

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[All images: Chateau Despair, Lisa Barnard, GOST Books.]

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
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