The British Museum has always been a place where I've drawn inspiration. When I was a student at UCL I'd pop round the corner to recharge (yes, OK, in the cafe mostly with one of my early supporters, Susan Smith). In 2011 I began researching The Book of Bera. It wasn't her book at all, then, just an untitled story with a character called Freya - who never came to life. Shortly after seeing this exhibition,  Bera stormed in and I stopped trying to strong-arm my characters. The first short video shows a scrap of material that gave me the idea for Bera speaking spells into cloth as she weaves. It's amateurishly taken with a Flip camera, for MA and research purposes. Whereas, this link to the 2014 Viking exhibition is exceptional.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2014/vikings.aspx