JOY GERRARD | PROTEST CROWD, LONDON (TRUMP VISIT PROTEST, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, JULY 2018, VERSION 2) 2020

“Joy Gerrard lives and works in Belfast. She graduated with a BA from NCAD, Dublin and an MA and MPhil from the Royal College of Art, London. Gerrard is known for work that investigates different systems of relations between crowds, architecture and the built environment.

Drawing on over a decade of image-making and research on themes of protest and urban space, Irish artist Joy Gerrard archives and painstakingly remakes media-borne crowd images, including those from the Arab Risings, Occupy, and anti- Trump protests. Alongside abstract film pieces, these are re-imaged in large monochrome paintings and small complex drawings made with Japanese ink. Gerrard’s crowds are viewed from above, suggesting the remove of media surveillance, while the fluidity and drama of their moment is expressed through precise, expressive mark-making. Repeatedly framed within built environments that give them significance and constrain them, moments of protest are figured against more enduring historical structures, while the re-scaling of news images into dramatic, painterly forms disrupts their everyday significations, provoking reflection on the place of art, witnessing and representation.”

Excerpt from artist’s statement.