In the Project Space from Thursday 4th March 2010
Journey of the Hysterectic Woman -
Sonya Whitefield
25th February - 18th March 2010
Hysterectic is a unique photographic project that creatively interprets one woman's journey through a hysterectomy operation. It challenges conventional perception and asks questions as to how, with imagination and creativity, a woman can take some personal control over this often traumatic medical procedure on the feminine body and psyche. The work shines a light on this major, yet commonplace womans' operation and promotes the use of the arts as a tool for transformation and recovery.
In Whitefield's brave and bold series, she follows in the venerable and vulnerable footsteps of artists like Jo Spence, Helen Chadwick and Hannah Wilke, who chartered their bodies' visceral experiences through photographs. Using the form of a visual diary, she leads us (and herself) through the tentative steps of the admission to hospital, the pre-op prep and the results.
She photographs and uses angles that reflect an Alice in Wonderland type of adventure, reinforcing feelings of detachment and otherworldliness contrasted with the stark sterility and brutality of the clinical imagery and surroundings.
Linking hysteria, Hippocrates, poetry and the art of photography, she explores the ordinary and extraordinary worlds of this emotional, mental and physical body experience resulting in a rich photographic exhibition and poetic book that blends fairytale with reality in an original and powerful way.
About the Artist
Sonya Whitefield ( b.Moy 1964 ) is a photographer/artist based in Co.Tyrone Northern Ireland. She studied photography at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. She is currently working for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
For further information about the artist go to www.sonyawhitefield.com
Substance: Residue, Drawings & Partial Objects 1976 - 2008
29th January - 6th March 2010
Substance: a major solo exhibition by André Stitt launches between 6pm and 8pm on Friday 29th January 2010. Stitt is one of Northern Ireland's most important contemporary art exports. He is currently based in Cardiff but the themes that inform his practice are rooted in his formative years in Belfast. His work is highly charged, generally hard hitting and may not be suitable for all audiences. Nevertheless, it is important that we take this opportunity to bring this substantial exhibition to a local audience. Like a hybrid catalogue/retrospective, Substance provides valuable insights into Stitt's performances or 'akshuns' and includes a significant number of pieces that have never been displayed before.
The project was conceived by the Spacex Gallery in Exeter and has been expanded and further developed for this exhibition in the Golden Thread Gallery. André Stitt's performance work focuses on difficult and traumatic themes including alienation, oppression, coercion and conflict and often refers back to his experiences of Belfast in the 70s and 80s. We feel that the time is right to revisit this work afresh. As well as a cooling of the political climate, there is now an adequate distance between the events that incited his 'akshuns'and the documentation or residue of his performances to look at the work from a more objective viewpoint.
A short film documentary by Lee Stitt, Finbar Maginn & Séan Kaluarachchi in conversation with André Stitt will also be shown for the duration of the exhibition
About the artist. Born in Belfast, N. Ireland in 1958 , Stitt is considered one of Europe's foremost performance and interdisciplinary artists. He has worked as an experimental artist since 1976 creating hundreds of unique works at major galleries, festivals, alternative venues and sites specific throughout the world. Recent work includes: Venice Biennale 2005, Blatic Contemporary Art Centre, England 2005, The Drawing Centre, New York, 2006, Artspace, Sydney 2007, Asiatopia, Bangkok 2008, Spacex Gallery, England 2008, The Lab, New York, 2009, MCAC, Northern Ireland 2009. In 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Creative Wales Award. He is Professor of Performance and Interdisciplinary Art at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and is the director of the Centre for Fine Art Research at Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales, UK. In 2000 he opened trace: Installaction Artspace in Cardiff initiating a robust programme of international time based work.
Do contact the Gallery for further details.
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Scope New York is one of the most prestigious art fairs in the world and for the first time ever, four of Northern Ireland's most talented emerging artists will be showing there. Thanks to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Creative Industries fund, the Golden Thread Gallery has created a unique and innovative program aimed at promoting the very best of Northern Ireland's emerging artists. The gallery has over ten years experience of representing Northern Ireland at venues all over the world and is the only major contemporary arts space in Northern Ireland to incorporate cultivating an international presence into its core activities. If you can't make it over to New York to see the works by Lisa Byrne, Victoria J Dean, Allan Hughes and Keith Winter, then a version of the exhibition will be on view at the gallery's Project Space opening on Thursday 1st April from 6-9pm. Led by the gallery's Director, Peter Richards, and Exhibitions Officer, Sarah McAvera, the trip to New York is just part of a whole program of activities all promoting Northern Ireland as one of the most exciting centres of cultural production. Simultaneous to Scope New York, the gallery has an exhibition opening in Taiwan which features ten Northern Irish artists including Ian Charlesworth, Susan MacWilliam and Victor Sloan. Following that, in April a major touring exhibition curated by Peter Richards will open at the esteemed Galeria Arsenale, Poland. |
