Bristle: Hair and Hegemony
Dr Róisín Kennedy is co-curator with Niamh McGuinne, artist and paper conservator at the National Gallery of Ireland, and Aoife Ruane, Director of Highlanes Gallery, of the exhibition Bristle: Hair and Hegemony. Opening on Saturday, 8 July, at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Bristle: Hair and Hegemony is presented as part of the Gallery's first decade programme.
This exhibition draws on the rich scientific, literary, political and aesthetic contexts in which hair plays a central role. It brings together a range of artworks and objects from the 17th century to the contemporary moment, and from diverse ethnic and cultural contexts. It features work by historic and contemporary artists including Albrecht Dürer, William Hogarth, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Matthew and Mary Darly, Hashiguchi Goyo, James Barry, Abigail O’Brien, Joanne Procter, Stephen Lau, David Hockney, Bharti Parma, Alice Maher and Helen Chadwick.
In addition to commissioning new work and borrowing a range of contemporary art from emerging and established artists, the exhibition presents art from major public collections, the National Gallery of Ireland, Chester Beatty Library, IMMA, Dublin City Gallery, the British Council, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland as well as Drogheda Municipal Art Collection and private collections.