Ghada Amer was born in 1963 in Cairo and lives in New York. She has exhibited widely in Europe and the US. In her paintings and installations she employs traditionally gentle crafts such as weaving and gardening to express radical attitudes. She often uses tales, myths and legends that depict common female experience and incorporates fragments of texts into her work.

Her new commission for Sudeley Castle Her first in the UK is a structural installation of tall wrought iron letters clad in climbing roses and honeysuckle. Spelling out the phrase Happily Ever After the work alludes to an engaging rose arbour or a children’s carrousel while literally spelling out one of the most common ideal.’ Happily Ever After’ plays on the conditioned response to this ideal and exposes the dizzying emptiness of this false promise.