Reimag(in)ing The Victorians @ Djanogly Gallery
This exhibition explores how leading contemporary artists have invoked the Victorians in their work.
The first room explored different aspects of colonialism and the political and cultural impacts of the not so Great British Empire.
There were tinted photographs by Ingrid Pollard. Her versions felt like a tender and apologetic subversion of the motivations for the original images, all of which were captured and shared to promote Jamaica to potential British investors and developers. The delicate way they have been hand coloured made the people and places in them come alive. You could feel the gentle and sweet intentions of the artist.
The Yinka Shonibare mannequins in the same space really stood out for me, with their beautifully vivid African prints and globe heads. This kind of work feels especially important at a time where we are revisiting our national identity and having dialogue about how we tell our history in relation to racism and colonialism.
The second room was full of natural history specimens and related art made by women, including drawers from Florence Nightingales shell collection and this intricate watercolour by Ann Seaton.
The third room featured a fantastic mix of modern and traditional taxidermy, natural history specimens and art and sculpture. This was my favorite section of the exhibition. I resonated with the majority of the artists shown, including Kate MccGuire who made this writhing feathered serpent. It is typical of her work, embodying both enchanting and repellent qualities.
The mouse skull sphere made by Alistair Mackie was an exquisite contemporary twist on traditional taxidermy. I spent a long time admiring this piece, trying to understand how it had been constructed; there were no visible joins or scaffolding and it really looked as if it were held together by magic. I also enjoyed reading that he only uses skulls foraged from owl pellets he finds in the wild. I think this is a beautiful collaboration with nature and a leaning into a natural process that references death in a healthy cyclical way. Maybe that is why he chose to create a sphere, to represent the life and death cycle his make connects with.
There were several Tessa Farmer pieces including this powerful example of her work called The Intruders which was suspended individually by fishing line from the ceiling, giving it a dynamic quality as it swayed slightly in the breeze. Her work is macabre, emotive, folkloric and breathtakingly intricate. Her pieces have such strong narrative and you can easily imagine, when you look at The Intruders, that you are witness to a fierce battle frozen in time. I am fascinated with and inspired by her work.
The last room showed a range of photographic portraits, mostly taken by female photographers, including Julia Margaret Cameron who pushed the boundaries of traditional portraiture into a more intimate and creative place. This room also looked at the technological advancement of the camera during the 19th Century.
Although I have not spoken about it in relation to individual pieces yet, there was a strong feminist narrative running throughout the exhibition. There were myriad reflections on forgotten women, uncelebrated women and how the attitudes of society formed towards girls and women all those years ago can still prove limiting and toxic today.
I was thrilled to visit this exhibition and came away feeling full of reflection and awe. I admired the contents and the curatorship equally. The gallery space felt cohesive, engaging and powerful and the experience took me on a journey through different aspects of the Victorian personality and the legacies of that Era.
