Art After The Troubles
Join us in the Hunterian Art Gallery to hear from art critic Declan Long about post-Troubles art and mark the opening of our new exhibition of work by Cathy Wilkes.
The Hunterian
Date: Saturday 08 June 2024
Time: 14:00 - 15:30
Venue: Hunterian Art Gallery
Category: Hunterian
Speaker: Declan Long
Join us in the Hunterian Art Gallery to hear from art critic Declan Long and celebrate the opening of our new exhibition of work by Cathy Wilkes. Long is the author of Ghost-Haunted Land (Manchester University Press, 2017), the first book-length examination of post-Troubles contemporary art. The book highlights artists who have reflected on the ongoing anxieties of aftermath. In this special exhibition talk, he will consider how these concerns might inform our understanding of Cathy Wilkes’ new work.
The exhibition of new work by Cathy responds to issues of war and conflict and is influenced by her childhood in Northern Ireland. The installation reflects on histories and experiences of violence not usually given expression within official representations of war. Cathy Wilkes has been realised through the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national partnership programme of artist commissions led by Imperial War Museums.
Refreshments will be served.
Dr Declan Long is Head of Doctoral Studies and Co-Director of the MA/MFA Art in the Contemporary World at Dublin National College of Art and Design. He writes regularly on contemporary art and related subjects for a range of publications including Artforum International and Source Photographic Review. He is the author of Ghost-Haunted Land: Contemporary Art and Post-Troubles Northern Ireland (2020): an in-depth analysis of art made in response to changing conditions in the north of Ireland during the two decades following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. While art from Northern Ireland has been a key area of research interest over recent years — with the work of Derry-born photography and film artist Willie Doherty a particular focus — he has also written extensively on art from Ireland more generally, and from other parts of the world. Recent work includes texts on the history of Ireland’s exhibitions at the Venice Biennale (Journal of Curatorial Studies, 2021) and essays for publications on the work of Dorothy Cross, Eva Rothschild, Emily Jacir and Merlin James.
Image: Willie Doherty, Remains, 2013