A Tale of a Tub is inspired by the engravings and illustrations accompanying Jonathan Swift´s 1704 pamphlet of the same name. Swift´s work is a response to Thomas Hobbes´s Leviathan, one of the first treatises on the nature of legitimate government.

In Dawood´s work, the whale represents the beast of the State, which threatens to destroy the vessel, prompting the sailors to throw overboard a barrel (or ‘tub’), representing their labour (or ‘capital’) to distract it. Factum Arte prepared a 3D digital model based on the engravings.

3D model of the sculpture

Detail of the sculpture

The model was subsequently 3D printed and cast in composite resin. The cast was then coated with polychromatic paint.