` New Hall Art Collection - Exhibitions

  • Past exhibition

    Sarah Lightman: In Memoriam

    18 October 2009 – 14 November 2009

    Toothbrushes, 2008: 'So now yours sits next to mine. Does this mean I'm you're girlfriend?'

    Toothbrushes, 2008: 'So now yours sits next to mine. Does this mean I'm you're girlfriend?'

  • About exhibition

    Sarah Lightman produces diary drawings; autobiographical images and texts that form an ongoing graphic novel of her life. 'In Memoriam' is a series of A4 drawings that charts the artist's continuing examination of how drawing can be used to communicate a personal history, while reverberating with a larger audience. In an age obsessed by the intimacies of others, where private and public are no longer polarized opposites, Sarah strives to engage the viewer not through self-promoting bombast but through a subtle examination of community, family, relationships and self. Whilst she is the central figure in the unfolding narrative, her work predominately focuses on her relationship with others, with objects increasingly substituting for portraits and scenes. These isolated objects are full of emotional resonance, and convey sadness and loss but also optimism for the future.

    This exhibition of drawings is accompanied by an introductory essay by Dr. Kylie Cardell, Lecturer of English Literature at Flinders University, South Australia, who wrote her PhD thesis on 'Everyday Authenticity: Contemporary Uses of The Diary' and will travel to Another Roadside Attraction Gallery, Hackney, London, in 2010.

    More information about the artist and her work can be found at www.sarahlightman.com

    A one day conference, 'Women in Comics' accompanied this exhibition on the 25th of October 2009. With its unique collection of 20th Century Women's Art, The New Hall Art Collection provided the perfect venue for a gathering of practitioners, academics, curators and enthusiasts. Women comic artists gave talks about their work, broader discussion included the representation of women in comics. The event ran as part of The Cambridge Festival of Ideas week..

    The conference was organised by Dr. Laurence Grove, Sarah Lightman and Catriona MacLeod (from the University of Glasgow).