emma johnson

Title: “Bottle of Smoke”

Year made: 2014

Media: Old Smoke (Dissected Ordnance Survey map of London – ignited), sent from England to Port Adelaide in a glass bottle.

The Old Smoke

Through the 19th early 20th century, Londoners used coal fires, which produced large amounts of smoke. This culminated in the disastrous Great Smog of 1952 which lasted for five days and killed over 4,000 people. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1956; however the nickname is still used. Many cities have since acquired the nickname “The Smoke”, but London was the first, hence “The Old Smoke”.

Molotov cocktail

The Molotov cocktail (named after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov) is a generic name used for a bottle-based improvised incendiary weapon. A glass bottle contains a flammable substance such as gasoline/petrol, and a source of ignition such as a burning cloth wick, which is lit and the bottle hurled at a target. When the bottle smashes, the cloud of petrol droplets and vapour ignites causing a fireball.

Bottle of Smoke

A song by Shane MacGowan & Jem Finer, from the album “If  I Should Fall From Grace With God” (The Pogues, 1988).