Monday, 27 May 2013

Walker Art Gallery - Alive: In The Face of Death


At the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool that we visited, there was an exhibition by Rankin called Alive: In The Face of Death. There were lots of different elements to it and I really liked the whole exhibition.

It was quite saddening to look at the images as there was a section of portraits which showed everyday people who have different illnesses and know that they are running out of time. Next to the photographs there was an account of the person’s life dealing with the terminal illness for people to read. I thought this was very moving and inspirational as the people in the portraits were smiling and looked happy and yet when you read their story it forced a different emotion. As well as portraits of people with illness there were others of people who had pulled through against all the odds and had the all clear. So it wasn’t all doom and gloom, it was a celebration of life also.

Another part of the exhibition was rather strange as it was photographs of lots of different celebrity’s faces in a “life mask” (subverting the idea of a Victorian death mask). There were stars that had passed away and stars living now Such as Holly Willoughby, Joanna Lumley and Michael Jackson and also a self portrait by Rankin. The images were great to look at as they were quite eerie and they didn’t really look like the person who it actually was because it was all in a greyish colour.

 

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