Overview

In partnership with The Hunterian, Cathy Wilkes’ commission was influenced by her childhood in Northern Ireland and by histories and experiences of violence not usually given expression within official representations of war. The resulting exhibition included a body of new sculpture and painting.

This new work encompassed both abstraction and intense social realism to convey themes of universal relevance: attachment, care, loss, separation and exposure. It reflects both the intrusion of violence into domestic spaces and collective acts of resistance.

Sculptural work included in the exhibition referenced the story of Emma Groves, a human rights activist and a co-founder of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets. She began her campaign after she was blinded from being struck in the face by a rubber bullet on 4 November 1971. She was standing beside the window of her Belfast home, watching British Army soldiers searching her neighbours’ homes. In an act of defiance, she played the ballad ‘Four Green Fields’ at high volume. As she turned her back on the window, a soldier shot a rubber bullet through the window, hitting her in the face.

As part of the presentation of this work, Wilkes included personal objects and archival material on loan from Linen Hall Library, Belfast and the London School of Economics.

Audiences
7 June – 29 September 2024
The Hunterian, Glasgow
Project Partners

The Hunterian 

Communities and Places

Glasgow-based artist Mandy McIntosh was appointed to work with communities in Springburn, an area of Glasgow with a diverse, multicultural community, as part of the Cathy Wilkes commission programme.  

Producing creative sessions, McIntosh worked with Springburn Unity Network (SUN), a charity whose purpose is to tackle social isolation and marginalisation. They seek to promote unity through community engagement activities, practical skill-building and creativity, aiming to bring people together regardless of differences. Working in collaboration, McIntosh secured sustainable space and equipment for their vital work. Artworks created in sessions with the community at SUN were exhibited at the University of Glasgow’s Advanced Research Centre (ARC) to coincide with Wilkes’ exhibition at Hunterian.