Open 10:30–5:00, Tuesday – Saturday
Crossing Lines is presented by Highlanes Gallery & FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio, Banbridge. The exhibition considers the current global climate, where increasing political and social turmoil have provoked public protest and campaigning on issues including gender, race, sexuality, class, religion and the environment.
Closer to home, the polarised debate on Brexit has mobilised people to take to the streets, and to social media, in an effort to have their voices heard. The exhibition includes new and recent work from Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Gifted Collection (2012), National Museums, Northern Ireland, and artists’ studios.
Crossing Lines is a response to the challenges of Brexit from the perspective of two galleries whose very existence was built on a cross border partnership to provide a major cultural and tourism resource for the border region. This project has at its heart a serious effort to increase cross- community and cross border co-operation in the arts and culture through a special East Border Region EU INTERREG IIIA Partnership.
The opening of these cross-border exhibitions was marked by a special live performance by Nigel Rolfe at Highlanes Gallery on Friday 23 November at 7.30pm, and at FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio on Saturday 24 November at 3.00pm
In accepting the adversity of our current global condition, and its often fierce antagonistic and conflicting ideologies, this exhibition considers individual and collective expressions of difference, across race, gender, sexuality, class, & religious, political and social systems, globalisation and climate change, and how human expression can shape society.
Exhibiting Artists: John Behan, Paul Bowan & Andre Stitt, Ian Breakwell, Stuart Brisley, Duncan Campbell, Tarik Chawdry, Jack Crabtree, Jack Cudworth, Fergus Delargy, Anthony Davies, Rita Duffy, Joyce Edwards, Joy Gerrard, Sunil Gupta, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Sonya Hanney & Adam Dade, Siobhan Hapaska, John Benton-Harris, Mike Hogg, Bob Jardine, Gavin Jantjes, Tam Joseph, Peter Kennard, John Kindness, Permindar Kaur, Terry Loane, Olga Magliocco, Alice Maher, Colin Middleton, Fionn McCann, Declan McGonagle, F.E. McWilliam, Brian O’Doherty, Jack Packenham, Tony Phillips, Susan Philipsz, Bridget Riley, Nigel Rolfe, Dermot Seymour, Victor Sloan, Bob and Roberta Smith, Maud Sulter, Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan, Mitra Tabrizan, Annie Wright.
Highlanes Gallery and FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio were realised as a cross-border arts partnership over a decade ago to provide a greater cultural resource for the border region througha special East Border Region EU INTERREG IIIA Partnership. The project involved a capital build in both partner areas of Banbridge and in County Louth.
In Banbridge the project enabled the creation of the FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio which is dedicated to the memory of one of Ireland’s most influential and successful artists and in Drogheda; and in Drogheda, Co. Louth, the project facilitated the restoration of a Franciscan Friary, namely Highlanes Gallery to world class exhibition standard, and to house the prestigious Drogheda Municipal Art Collection.
Both Galleries provide a major cultural and tourism resource for the border region, developed to ‘British Museum Standard B’ with the capacity to house major exhibitions the galleries’ have offered a major boost to the North East Regions’ offering. This project has at its heart a serious effort to increase cross-community and cross border co-operation in the arts and culture.
Highlanes Gallery, Laurence Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland
W. www.highlanes.ie E. info@highlanes.ie T. + 353 041 9803311
Highlanes Gallery is open 6 days a week, Monday – Saturday, 10.30am-5.00pm, closed Sunday
FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio, 200 Newry Road, Banbridge, Co. Down, BT32 3NB
W. www.femcwilliam.com E. info@femcwilliam.com T. + 0044 (0)28 40623322
FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio is open 6 days a week, Monday – Saturday, 10.00am-5.00pm, closed Sunday
