The exhibition features artwork by 28 contemporary artists and photographers who turn the tables on historic associations and practices of portraiture to go beyond ‘skin deep’ delving further into our shared human condition.
Portraiture’s origins trace back to ancient Egypt and until the invention of photography in 1822, painting, sculpture and drawing were utilised to provide a record of the ‘sitters’ appearance or capture a significant moment in time. Portraiture was initially the reserve of the rich and powerful who sort to display their importance, virtue, wealth, taste and power. Tending to flatter the primary concern of portraitists was to capture the likeness of the sitter, bringing forth their character through distinctive features like their hands and face.
The artworks on display in ‘The Skin We Live In’ move away from the individual to focus on the collective, or the ‘we’, to provide points of learning, visibility and voice to marginalised communities and the facets of human nature usually held internally, often to our own detriment. This is achieved, in part, by removing, abstracting, obscuring, or masking the face to convey instead a bodily connection with the viewer calling to action performance, pose, clothing, personal effects or narrative construction to engage the viewer, not through stare, but through honesty, humility and humanity.
Natasha Caruana’s photographic series ‘Married Man’ shown in its entirety for the first time since it was exhibited at NGCA in 2010 documents 80 dates the artist arranged with married men through online dating sites. The photographs were taken secretly with a hidden camera and the resulting images conceal the men’s identities. Caruana asks why the ‘dates’ would be willing to put their legally binding relationships at risk while questioning the ethics of documentary photography. The defining features of the men are omitted much like their personal stories however the usually internalised emotions are made visible touching on shame, sexual desire and the traditions of marriage and heteronormative relationships. New acquisitions by Johannah Churchill and Michael Daglish touch on personal stories connected to isolation, depression and loss through presence and absence of the body and delineations of time. Swiss artist Simon Senn’s series ‘Fawcett Street’ from 2015 – named after the street where NGCA used to be situated – invited people walking down the street to enact ‘being sensational’, the photographs were then sent to a psychologist who produced reports based on the photographs.
‘Found Families’ are celebrated through the work of Janina Sabaliauskaite, Jade Sweeting and Vinca Petersen, from shining a light on intimate queer relationships, to the support networks of North-East motorcycle communities and touring Europe with a shared passion for rave and sense of joyous freedom. The artworks expand on the notion of ‘family’ and how important these relationships are in the face on prejudice and homophobia.
Elsewhere, working class communities are elevated through the photography of Daniel Meadows, Ian Macdonald and Chris Harrison. In 1972, Daniel Meadows, 20 years of age, setup a free portrait studio in a shop unit on Greame Street, Moss Side, Manchester and photographed the vibrant multi-cultural community where he was living. During this period Moss Side was subject to urban regeneration with the tightknit community broken-up and relocated out to other suburbs including the now infamous Hulme Crescents (deemed unsuitable for families only two years after opening). Closer to home, Ian Macdonald and Chris Harrison photographed the residents who were, and still are, the fabric of their industrial hometowns of Teesside and Jarrow respectively. The portraits bear witness to the monumental changes brought about by deindustrialisation and the housing crisis which swept across the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Exhibited artists: Samsul Alam Helal, Sophie Lisa Beresford, Natasha Caruana, Jeffrey Dennis, Graham Dolphin, Benedict Drew, Chris Harrison, Alice Hawkins, John Kippin & Nicola Neate, Clarita Lulic, Ian Macdonald, Daniel Meadows, James O Jenkins, Vinca Petersen, Mark Pinder, Joanna Piotrowska, Marjolaine Ryley, Seb Trend, Simon Senn, Daniel Silver, Jade Sweeting, Walker & Bromwich, Jhanee Wilkins and new acquisitions from Johannah Churchill, Michael Daglish and Janina Sabaliauskaite.
Jon Weston, Curator of Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art says ‘We are delighted to bring together a broad range of artists and photographers from the NGCA collection for the first time within a group exhibition. Each artist and photographer approaches the subject from a different perspective, however, collectively they challenge the conventions of portraiture to reveal, question and celebrate what it means to be human. ‘The Skin We Live In’ asks how we can learn and take comfort and solace in our shared experiences, with often marginalised human experiences given voice through the gallery walls.’
Since 2006 Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art has acquired over 500 artworks by more than 50 artists or artist collectives with a focus on, but not limited to, lens-based media and the North East of England. Today the collection continues to grow and is widely loaned across the North East of England and United Kingdom.