Once upon a time Julia Spicer exhibited a set of images entitled ‘Discovered Photographs’. The underexposed series showed a naked woman standing bathing, with her dog. An accompanying text stated that the photographs originated as negatives from the estate of Spicer’s late grandmother, who had worked for a time as the housekeeper for the composer Jean Sciolto. The model and photographer were unknown.
 
The response to these images was positive, with many people commenting on their intriguing provenance. More intriguing for Spicer, however, was the fact that the text was entirely fabricated and the images, she believed, fairly transparently staged in her own bathroom, using her own dog.

Another piece, ‘Sights Unseen’ (2000/03) published in ‘Breathing Cities’ and exhibited at VTO Gallery, documented the artist carrying out a bizarre series of tasks for the fictitious European film director Iris Shüfftan. Once again, the work provided just enough clues to alert the more observant or sceptical viewer to its fictional nature.

It was in the spirit of this enjoyment of story telling that Spicer then decided to promote the work of other young artists who work in a variety of media, under the umbrella of the dolores rocket ‘brand’. Initially she worked with Amy Blum, Liam Crowe, Naomi Kane and design duo Graham Leroy and Stella Darby.