Launch
5pm Fri 15 July
Running
16 July—6th Nov
Crawford Gallery
Emmett Place,
T12 TNE6,
Co. Cork
Opening Hours
Mon–Wed 10am–5pm
Thu 10am—8pm
Fri—Sun 10am—5pm
Meat and Potatoes
Meat and Potatoes brings together works by historic and contemporary artists who have used food as their muse in myriad ways, from still lifes to video works and installations that consider the politics and concerns that have shaped perspectives on food right up to our present moment.
Crawford Art Gallery is holding the exhibition from July to early November, with an ambitious accompanying programme of events including talks, baking workshops, tastings and performances. The programme is intended explore a range of subjects connected to food including food waste and food security as well as light-hearted offerings like cake decoration workshops and seed swaps.
Among the artworks on display, How to Butterfly a Leg of Lamb 1999, a collaboration between Mary A Kelly and Abigail O’Brien is a photographic, video and sculptural installation looks at ritual, sexuality and cultural mores.
Deirdre O’Mahony’s The Persistent Return resulted from years of research and projects focusing on the potato’s global and local political implications. The 2-screen moving-image installation traces the history of the potato and its role in consolidating and concentrating power in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The film points to the human cost of privileging scientific rationalism at the expense of tacit knowledge, a reminder that the skills of both head and hand are needed to respond to the challenges presented by climate change today.
The second work by Deirdre O’Mahony in the exhibition is Trial + Error, a short documentary film, and photographic installation. It tells JJ Silke’s story, who transformed the fortunes of a small parish in County Donegal by developing a thriving seed potato industry with a world record yield of Arran Banner potatoes in the 1940s. It will be exhibited along a selection of photographs from the Silke family collection.
Two photographic portraits, from artist Maria McKinney’s Sire series and the 2 accompanying multi-coloured corndollies sculptures she created are also part of the exhibition.
Featured Image: from the series Sire, Maria McKinney