Whitworth Art Gallery

I visited Whitworth Gallery to see the Africans textiles on display. Love the colours and history of these fabric's. America exported cotton to Manchester mills to be spun, dyed and woven, it would be sent back to America for the slaves working on the cotton plantations to wear. Also cotton made dyed and embroidered in Mali are featured in the showcases.

Olympic Flame made for West African market. Manufactured by Elson & Neil. Manchester. 

 

Fulani blanket 1970's . Warrior's tunic late 1900C. Warrior's hat late 1900C all made in Mali.

 

 

This robe is from Mali. The  sleeves of the garment remain unsewn to indicate the garment is unworn to future buyers.High ranking Sonink'e men would embroider a garment like this.

 

Strip woven and indigo-dyed cotton with embroidery in white thread. Late 1900c

Aisha Khalid

  While I was there also saw Aisha Khalid exhibition " Larger Than Life." I thought the hand embroidered roses on the wall along with the running video of a machine making roses very good and appealing to the eye. The rest of the show left me cold. I thought they were dark and uninteresting and wondered how they fitted in with the rest of the exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hockney & Hogarth

 

Another exhibition called " Hockney to Hogarth A Rake's Progress" Of course I preferred  Hogarth's work to Hockney's far more interesting to view as an artist. The meticulous details in his work completely over shadow Hockney's work.    

Not that I dislike all Hockney's work because I don't. Some I really like and some I love !  

 

 

 

 

Jane and Louise Wilson

 

An interesting exhibition is Jane and Louise Wilson " The Toxic Camera" photographs based on 1986

Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union. Large scale photographs showing deserted interiors from the nearly abandoned city of Pipyat situated within the 30km the exclusion zone. The picture above of a decayed swimming pool. This exhibition made me feel sad for the loss of lives, health and homes where folk would have brought their up families.