A Trilogy Of Exhibitions.
The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow.
July 2018, January 2019 & August 2019.
Stu-Manity & The Great Mortality, July 2018.
Plague doctor sculpture, Nostradamus, plague doctor and hell, heretic & Dunce hat, barber-pole, and carnival figures.
Dunce & heretic hat.
Inquisition heretics, Dunce hat, barber-surgery/plague doctor sculpture, and Nostradamus.
Barber-surgeon/plague doctor sculpture, plague doctor playing chess with death (reference to Bergman's 'Seventh Seal' which was set during the Black Death (1348-51) making the drawing anachronistic due to the plague doctor not appearing until the 17th century), Pulcinella, and plague doctor & plague-carrier (referencing Murnau's 'Nosferatu', which itself translates as 'plague-carrier'.)
Stu-Manity & The Social, Cultural And Economic Shifts Of The Medieval Period (Before, During & After 1348 - 1665), January 2019.
'Stu-Manity & The Social, Cultural And Economic Shifts Of The Medieval Period (Before, During & After 1348 - 1665)' exhibition poster.
Large scale drawings depicting: the harlequin, body-snatching, a crossroad burial, a pneumonic plague victim; and a sculpture of a plague doctor head.
Large scale drawings depicting aspects of themes such as: body-snatching, burial rituals, the Flagellants, as well as bubonic, pneumonic & septicemic plague victims. Various books that have influenced the work in some way are scattered across the floor, with research notebooks and sketchbooks to the right on the table.
Table of research (also relating to first exhibition) with CSI-esque wall of drawings and visual references depicting: barber-surgery, Nostradamus as a plague doctor, urinalysis, the tonsure, and plague pits. In the background is one of the two plague doctor assemblage sculptures.
Turning The World Upside Down With Stu-Manity & History From Below, August 2019.
Wall space and table of research with drawings, collages and writing depicting and explaining aspects of themes such as: trepanning, hanging pirates at sea, Christian slaves enslaved by Barbary pirates, the Atlantic slave trade, pirate symbolism, and the decline of the Knights Templar.
Explaining the main purpose of the French & Spanish religious sects who provided ransom in an attempt to release Christian slaves.
Large scale drawings in the background depicting (left) the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 (Wat Tyler and his followers meeting a young King Richard II) and (right) the makeshift platforms for sufferers of the dancing plague of 1518. Both works were in progress at that point. The table and chair represents a Captain's table with a scroll of a plan of a ship referring to Michel Foucault's concept of 'heterotopia'.
Jolly Roger flag, Republic of Sale flag, hanging pirate (based on William Kidd), Jeanne de Clisson, vagabond branded with 'V' on chest, Captain's table, and Trinitarian parade.