INVISIBLE VISIBLE
Student Takeover at Whitworth Art Gallery, 28th November 2024
A creative response to the Barbara Walker - Being Here exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery with an ‘Invisibility Theme’ and is largely influenced by the Windrush scandal and the effects of ‘Stop and Search’ (understanding and empowering)
All students across our creative courses were deeply inspired by the Barbara Walker exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery. The themes explored in her work served as a catalyst for students to develop responses that reflect their individual disciplines, ranging from TV and Film to Performing Arts, Media, and Visual Arts. This diversity of responses will foster interdisciplinary collaborations, mirroring the dynamics of the creative industries and the collaborative nature of professional practice. In the creative world, no artist works in isolation, but rather within a network of collaborative engagement, which is precisely what our learners will experience as they prepare for their careers.
About Barbara Walker
Being Here presents over 70 extraordinary artworks, including rarely seen paintings, her Turner Prize nominated drawing series Burden of Proof (2022-23), and a newly commissioned printed wallpaper Soft Power (2024). Barbara Walker | Whitworth Art Gallery (manchester.ac.uk)
For over twenty-five years, Walker has been making intensely observed and empathetic figurative work that creates space for Black presence, power and belonging. Ranging from delicate graphite drawings on archival documents to a monumental charcoal wall drawing, Walker tackles wide-ranging themes such as the policing and surveillance of Black life, twentieth-century war histories, immigration and Old Master paintings to challenge conventions of representation and the histories they are rooted in. Research article about the exhibition and artist:
Visual Arts
Art and Design/ Fashion created a series of face masks that were worn by Performing Arts students for performances on the day. The face masks were based on principal characters found in commedia dell'arte: Pantalone, Arlecchino, Innamorati (the lovers), Columbina, Dottore, Brighella, Capitano, and Pulcinella.
Photography – A selection of portraits from the recent Greater Mancunians exhibition. All of which depict a diverse range of individuals who have had a cultural impact on the region. A hands-on screen-printing workshop for visitors produced tote bags featuring the Greater Mancunians logo.
Takeover images