Bristle: hair and hegemony 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 Proctor, Stephen Lau, David Hockney, Bharti Parmar, 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.  These wide-ranging examples, some familiar, many not shown before, offer a sense of the extent of representations and meanings given to hair in visual art and material culture over the centuries.

Hair as an expression of youth, beauty and physical prowess is a familiar trope in art and is conveyed with great sensuousness in Beatrice Glenavy’sAffectionate Couple and James Barry’s King Lear. How we groom our hair, both on our bodies and on our heads, is central to our construction as feminine or masculine and to how we situate ourselves culturally, socially and even religiously.  The contradictory ways in which hair can project ideas of sexuality and gender is explored in diverse and often humorous ways in the work of Kieran Moore and Abigail O’Brien, whose specially reworked video, Natural Wax (1995-2017), conveys the physical pain and risk involved in the achievement of a sexually alluring body.

Hair is a powerful symbol of social standing. Hogarth’s engravings satirise the pretentious wigs donned by the elites of 18^th century London while the Darlys’ prints of elaborate female coiffures are a comment on the colonial and imperialist outlook of the class that sported such outrageous fashions, their hair a reflection of their wealth and associated leisure.  A purported lock of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette and a contemporary cartoon, refer to her vanity and her downfall, both connected to her well-tended locks.  The work of Kiran Riaz and So Yoon Lym refer to the idea of hair as a marker of ethnic and cultural identity. From the world of popular culture, early 20^th century postcards of Circassian ladies, whose bizarre curly hair made them star attractions in circuses and travelling fairs, offer a sense of the wider obsession with physical appearance.

Several artists, including Jane Giffney, David Hockney, Alice Maher, Ana Maria Pacheco, Niamh McGuinne, Saidhbhín Gibson and Harry Clarke view hair through the lens of folklore, literature and mythology where long tresses, stolen locks or hairy legs act as metaphors for subversion, excess, and promiscuity. Here hair is presented in fantastic ways that subvert the viewers’ expectations. When grey or thinning, hair denotes deterioration and age as in Jessica Lagunas’s video work, Preoccupation (Gray Hair), in which the artist plucks out her grey hairs. As an organic substance, hair is a marker of genetics, race and hereditary characteristics and this is explored in the work of Kathy Prendergast and Andrew Folan and in a collection of miniatures from the National Gallery of Ireland in which hair acts as a momentum of loved ones.  This careful treasuring of hair is dramatically counteracted by the work of Bharti Parma whose carpet of human hair, Shag, questions our precious attitude to this ephemeral aspect of human biology.

Bristle: Hair and Hegemony is curated by Roisin Kennedy, Lecturer at the School Of Art History & Cultural Policy, University College Dublin, Niamh McGuinne, artist and paper conservator, National Gallery of Ireland, and Aoife Ruane, Director of Highlanes Gallery.

Bristle: Hair and Hegemony is presented as part of Highlanes Gallery’s first decade programme.

Highlanes Gallery is grateful for the ongoing financial support from Louth County Council, the Arts Council, and Patrons, Benefactors and Friends as well as sponsorship from the d Hotel, Drogheda http://www.thedhotel.com/

Bristle: Hair and Hegemony Public Programme

Exhibition Dates: 8 July to 23 September 2017

Exhibition Guide:  with Text by Dr Orla Fitzpatrick, writer and photo historian

Exhibition Opening Saturday 8 July 2017 from 3-5pm

Gallery Discussion Saturday 8 July 2017 at 3.30pm where the exhibition curators, Roisin Kennedy, Niamh McGuinne and Aoife Ruane will be joined by many of the exhibiting artists for an informal gallery talk discussing the artworks and themes in the exhibition.

Children’s Summer Workshops Wednesday 27 July, Thursday 28 July, Friday 29 July, Wednesday 3 August and Thursday 4 August, from 11.30am-1.00pm. Charged at €6, with pre-booking essential. Booking opens on Thursday 29 June on Eventbrite

Culture Vultures Saturday 12 August a multi-strand contemporary salon-style event curated/presented by Irish Times arts writer/critic, Tony Clayton-Lea at Beaulieu House, Drogheda, Highlanes Gallery ‘Summer Holiday’ Culture Vultures line-up features acclaimed poet, Colm Keegan, singer-songwriter, Marlene Enright, and a rare public interview with the internationally renowned Irish artist, Alice Maher, whose work features in Bristle: Hair and Hegemony. Tickets for the event are €25 (including a glass of wine and return bus from Highlanes Gallery to Beaulieu House) with pre-booking essential Booking opens on Thursday 29 June on Eventbrite.

Heritage Week Programme

 Lunchtime Lecture Tuesday 21 August at 1.00pm
‘launch ships and burn towers’: Beatrice Glenavy and Patrick Pearse
Patrick Pearse and Beatrice, Lady Glenavy (née Elvery) were both shaped by the heady years of the Gaelic Revival at the turn of the 20th century. They first met in their 20s when Beatrice Elvery illustrated Pearse’s book of short stories,Íosagán agus Scealta Éile. In the years which followed two of her paintings came to play a central role in the visual identity of Pearse’s experimental school, Scoil Éanna. In this lecture, Brian Crowley, Curator of the Pearse Museum will explore the forces which initially brought these two figures together and the very divergent paths which they would later take. Free, with booking essential, Booking opens on Thursday 29 June on Eventbrite

Lunchtime Lecture Tuesday 22 August at 1.00pm

 Hair Raising Narratives: A personal response to Bristle – Hair and HegemonyThroughout the history of art, hair has often been used as a visual signifier that reflects or challenges dominant power structures.  As one of the most socially constructed markers of gender, how artists display and use hair within the exhibition can reflect the cultural construction of gender. Dr Jane Humphries teases out the gendered themes of the exhibition to consider how hair, as a subject and material, challenges, satirises, and sabotages what may be considered gendered ‘norms’. She demonstrates the ambiguous sign systems artists have used in the works. In so doing she will show how the cultural meaning of hair, within the visual narratives displayed, can bewitch, entice, reward, destroy and celebrate women and men.

Free, with booking essential, Booking opens on Thursday 29 June on Eventbrite

 Children’s Heritage Week Workshops: Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 August, 11.30am – 1.00pm charged at €6, with pre-booking essential Booking opens on Thursday 29 June on Eventbrite

For Further Media Information:

Dairne O’Sullivan PR T. 087 680 1443 E. dairnemosullivan@gmail.com

Miryam McDonnell, Highlanes Gallery T. 041-9803311 E.mmcdonell@highlanes.ie

Highlanes Gallery is open 6 days a week, with guided tours of this exhibition available

Monday – Saturday 10.30am-5.00pm, Closed Sunday

Complete your visit to the gallery at Relish Café and Foodhall

Highlanes Gallery, Laurence Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland

T. + 353 (0)41 – 9803311      W.www.highlanes.ie

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Louth Craftmark is proud to announce the opening of their summer exhibition at ‘The Gallery Listoke’ at Listoke House and Garden, Ballymakenny road, Drogheda.

Opening reception Saturday 17th June 3.30pm to 5.30pm

The exhibition runs from June 17th to August 13th. Listoke House opens 9-6pm daily and visitors are welcome.

Louth Craftmark is a network of makers and visual artists based in and around county Louth. With 32 members taking part in the exhibition there will be a rich variety of work on show. Exhibitors will include glass artist Grace Brennan and Helen Marry, painters Patricia Murphy, Fiona Quigley, Gilly Cullen and Orla Barry. Ceramicists are Gillian Callan, Mary Cowan, Sarah McKenna, Maureen Finn, Fiona Kerbey, Sinead Gregory, Roisin Gregory and Louise Shaw.  Textiles  artists partaking are Mel Bradley, Rachel Tinniswood, Mary Larkin, Bernadette Fox, Caroline Moore, Mary McDonnell, Violet Shirran, Breda McNelis, Eileen McNulty.  Jewellers include Cecilia Casey, Garrett Mallon, Macdara O’Graham and Mia Mullen. Printmakers are Robert Kelly, Martina Scott, Orlaith Cullinane and Caoimhe McCarthy while Joe Lawlor is a furniture maker.