A workshop talk in Pollok House, Glasgow; the second in a series of three workshops which were part of the residential research project Cabinet Interventions. The workshops were for an audience of other participating artists, invited guests, the staff of Pollok House and visiting public.
The other artists presenting at this workshop were Alan Currall and Sarah Forrest.
Together with the photographer Tine Bek, I documented every portrait of a woman currently on view in the National Trust for Scotland property Pollok House, Glasgow. Three photographs were taken of each portrait; one in context; one of the face; and one of a close up of the cheek. This talk looked at these portraits individually, as well as explored their power when viewed collectively, mapping out their movement across Europe and Scotland from the 15th Century to the present day. A detail of the apple of each cheek of the fifty-two portraits was projected; a gesture that revealed a perspective both intimate and universal simultaneously. The title of this talk was taken from the book, Early Modern Habsburg Women, Transnational Contexts, Cultural Conflicts, Dynastic Continuities, edited by Anne J. Cruz & Maria Galli Stampino which was key to contextualising my research and the history of the women portrayed in some of the portraits present in Pollok House.
Invited attendees to the workshops were: Participating artists Alan Currall, Sarah Forrest, Shauna McMullan, Jim Harold, Ruth Barker, Jasper Coppes, Shona Macnaughton, Duncan Marquiss, Susan Brind, Joanna Peace; project co-ordinator, Grace Johnston; documentary photographer, Tine Bek; National Trust for Scotland (NTS) Property Manager, Karen Cornfield; NTS Education Officer, Dr. Joseph Murray; NTS regional curator, Emma Inglis; curator, researcher and writer Tiffany Boyle; artist, curator and lecturer James N Hutchinson and artists and researchers Miek Zwamborn & Ruther Emmelkamp (Knockvologan Studies, Isle of Mull). The workshops were also freely accessible to the visiting public.
