Brexit has been responsible for many things, but perhaps the most unexpected, and one of the few unalloyed benefits, was the dazzling display of creativity that this national trauma inspired.
Part defiance, part palliative, part combative…there was an explosion of new paintings, posters, fashions (using the term loosely), books, crafts, even a much-postponed coin — and so very many theatrical displays of protest and satire across the nation, all excitedly projected onto the national consciousness by social media.
A personal favourite has to be the allegorical rendering of Theresa May, riding side-saddle on a British lion through a starry sky; and I can almost smell the dead mackerel that Nigel Farage threw into the Thames from a trawler hired for the day: Political performance art at its very best.
In some ways, then, some of us will miss Brexit, even though we have our little collection of mementoes and souvenirs – Brexitabilia – to help keep the memories alive. For this, if nothing else, it might be fairly said that Brexit did indeed unleash Britain’s true potential.
Click through the gallery above to see The Independent's roundup of Brexit in 47 objects.
