In 1994 London Printworks Trust, a leading not-for-profit workshop and studio for artists and the public alike, commissioned a group of artists to make work for an exhibition Portable Fabric Shelters. The theme was global migration, the condition of the refugee and the homeless. Sonia Boyce made a group of works, including blankets, a tent and this umbrella. Around the edge of the umbrella she printed the brows and closed lids of a pair of eyes. Boyce has spoken about the idea of getting inside someone else's head, in the sense of really understanding their point of view and experience. The umbrella itself can represent a form of shelter. Using one in a crowded street is a way of creating a haven, in which, momentarily, strangers are kept at arm's length. Alternatively, inviting another to share the space beneath can be an experience of intimacy. Seen from outside the closed lids both attract and exclude the onlooker. Screenprint made it possible to reproduce a photographic image, increasing the sense of there being a real person behind the closed lids and brows. The screenprint process also made it possible for the umbrella to be produced as an edition.