Soldier, silver gelatin print, dyes, inks, bleach and gouache, 80.5cms x 111cms, 1995 © Victor Sloan
In the summer of 1993 and 1994 Victor Sloan with other Irish artists participated in a series of exhibitions and performances entitled “Irish Days” at the Baltic Art Gallery in Uska, Poland. During their stay in Poland, Victor Sloan and the other artists visited Borne Sulinowo. It had been a secret base for the Soviet army, a town with 25,000 inhabitants which was hidden in woodland close to the German border. The Red army left the base overnight in the winter of 1992. Since then the town lies deserted. Now only a police station exists as well as a tiny bar with three or four tables. Borne Sulinowo is heavily polluted. Wrecks of military vehicles and debris lie everywhere. Victor Sloan, like the other Irish artists who went there, was inspired to make new work. Victor Sloan’s previous photographic works dealt with his own personal history and experiences in Northern Ireland. Victor Sloan’s observations in Borne Sulinowo reflect on a process of demilitarising and decay of political ideology. The current context of contemporary politics in Northern Ireland has obvious resonance. For further information contact: Orchard Gallery | | |
The Lie of the Land Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland. Inaugural Exhibition/Touring Exhibition 12 October - 14 November 1995
Slide (Detail), silver gelatin print, toners, dyes, inks, bleach and gouache, 67cms x 111cms, 1995 © Victor Sloan The Lie of the land presents the work of six Irish photographers: John Duncan, Anthony Haughey, Padraig Murphy, Mick O'Kelly, Paul Seawright and Victor Sloan. The clichéd representation of Ireland, fostered for decades by native advertising and tourism were only too easily accepted as a comforting representation of reality. However the social and political upheavals of the last number of years demand a new visual grammar. Such clichés are now seen to be inadequate in Ireland today. This is our point of departure. All of the work reflects the complexity of living in Ireland today. The artists carry with them the cultural baggage which assists and enriches their image making. Essentially we see the work in this exhibition as not being overtly Irish, far removed as it is from traditional visual notions of Irishness. This exhibition has been curated with Ute Eskildsen of Folkwang Museum Essen, Germany. The exhibition will be touring Ireland, England, France and U.S.A. The large scale of this exhibition derives from our desire to make a major impact both nationally and internationally, in our new custom-built space. This will be the first group Irish exhibition to tour internationally since Out of the Shadows. Centre de la Photographie in Paris is showing the work in April/May 1996. Gallery Talk: Wednesday 8 November at 3.00pm. Liam Kelly, author of ‘Art in Northern Ireland’ in conversation with artist Victor Sloan. Gallery of Photography The Gallery, Bookshop & Darkrooms are open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11am - 6pm Sundays, 1-6pm. t: +353 1 671 4654 | | |