A video of an art exhibit that shows an elderly woman lying on the floor surrounded by dropped shopping has been shared online with false claims it depicts Ann Widdecombe’s dead body.
The piece was actually created in March, months before Ms Widdecombe’s death on 8 July 2026, and the artist confirmed “it was never meant to symbolise or represent Ann Widdecombe in any way”.
Posts shared on Facebook claim the video shows “an ‘art’ exhibition that depicts Ann Widdecombe’s dead body” or “a life-sized exhibition depicting Ann Widdecombe lying helpless and collapsed on a cold tile floor”.
Full Fact traced the video, which had been flipped horizontally, to a clip posted by artist Olivia Herring on 19 July 2026 as part of an exhibition in Battersea run by The Holy Art.
However, the piece itself predates this. The earliest example Full Fact could find online was posted on 22 April on TikTok, months before Ms Widdecombe’s death. It was part of a series titled “STILL LIFE”.
In May Ms Herring referred to the piece as “a woman collapsed beneath the debris of consumption and luxury”.
When we spoke to Ms Herring about the work, she told us that the installation “was never meant to symbolise or represent Ann Widdecombe in any way” and that it was never her intention to “comment distastefully” on anyone’s death.
She added: “The piece was originally created back in March/April time when I originally shot it and it means many different things to many different people […] people have commented it represents the bystander effect, it represents our apathy towards elderly people in the UK, or perhaps collapse under consumption.”
She also clarified in an Instagram story posted on 23 July (which is no longer viewable) that she made the piece in March.
Evelyn Tsekoura, senior curator at The Holy Art, also told Full Fact “there was no intention for the work to resemble Ms Widdecombe, and no such intention ever existed”.
She added: “Nothing in the artist’s submission to us, or in any of our correspondence with her, referenced Ms Widdecombe or any real person.”
Ms Tsekoura also clarified that “the figure seen in the circulating videos is a live performer who took part in the installation, not a mannequin, a sculpture or a depiction of any real individual”.
She said: “Our exhibition in Battersea was planned in advance, and the fact that it opened days after Ms Widdecombe’s death was a deeply unfortunate coincidence of timing. We would never present work that mocks anyone’s death.”
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