Visit to #galleryoldham

After watching an enjoyable play at #oldhamcolluseum the night before, we decided to visit the art gallery, which is housed in a large purpose built building. On entering, we made our way upstairs to see the 'Legacies of Biafra' exhibition. It was interesting to find out about the artwork that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Nigeria-Biafra war, a subject we knew nothing about. 

 The exhibition considers how one of the first civil wars in post-independence Africa has influenced the perception of the continent internationally whilst examining the legacies of war visible in the social and political structures within Nigeria.
The exhibition features works predominantly from the artistic collective Nigeria Art Society UK (NASUK),

Another interesting bonus was that an artist I met recently, at my exhibition in Saddleworth, Titus Agbara had work on show.

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National Gallery Masterpiece Tour

In the next galley was the famous painting by Degas entitled Helene Rouart in her Father's Study.
This is the starting point for an exploration of the ways in which women are represented within our art collections. Gallery Oldham holds many portraits in which the woman is not named. Sometimes she is described as “wife” or “daughter”, sometimes the title completely ignores the fact there is a woman in the portrait at all. We are using this exciting National Gallery partnership as a starting point to try to uncover the identities of some of these sitters, and to find out more about those who we know little.
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Another interesting exhibition that showed a wide range of paintings from Oldham  galleries collection.

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We always enjoy going through to the Community gallery and wish Salford Art Gallery had similar exhibition space. The first area features paintings etc. celebrating the work of local artists, landmarks  and people. 
The room at the end features work by groups or individuals linked to Oldham or has a subject matter relevant to the area.  

​In this case Adam Bromiley-Haslam's paintings show his unique strategy in coping with the challenges that life throws at him. His stunning faces in bright colours are a unique expression of his struggles.

These reminded me slightly of the work of of #Picasso and #JeanMichelBasquia
A thought provoking exhibition.

A wide range of artwork to see and well worth a visit. Also interesting to note that after almost a hundred exhibitions the Community Gallery is to be relaunched in 2022 in a new location such is it's popularity.