Nicola Ashmore

Guernica Remakings: Action, Collaboration and Thread

Abstract Reworkings of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica include versions in textile that have been produced or exhibited in recent years. Amongst these is Remaking of Picasso’s Guernica as a Protest Banner, an initiative in which the author herself was involved. Focusing on the ideas and concerns that underpinned the production of this banner, the author explains the significance of its deployment in public sewing events held in 2013 and 2014. Comparison is also drawn between the banner and two other reworkings of the Picasso painting in textile—a 1955 version that was included in an exhibition by Goshka Macuga called The Nature of the Beast that was held at the Whitechapel Gallery in London between 2009 and 2010, and the Keiskamma Guernica, a work made in South Africa that was completed in mid-2010. It is suggested that these various reworkings point to the amenability of the Guernica to be adapted to convey a statement of opposition to those in power who prioritize their own agendas to the detriment of civilians. But whereas Picasso produced his work solitarily, its reworking or reinterpretation in textile has enabled it to be made by collectives and/or to serve as a forum for group activism.

Curious lessons in the museum: the pedagogic potential of artists’ interventions

Each chapter leads the reader through a series of narratives and plots revealing the agency of pictures, mimesis in art patronage, institutionalisation of artistic practice, the politics of display and mimesis in visual ethnography. The book demands from its readers a sophisticated understanding of the geography of the Indian subcontinent and its colonial history. Whilst the writing style is fluent and the discussions lively, often important ideas are introduced but not fully demonstrated until much later in the exegesis, keeping the reader waiting for relevant information. The author’s own voice is very much present in the work and she disseminates her extensive research in a thoughtprovoking and engaging way. The book successfully concludes with a reflection on present-day mimesis in visual culture in the context of neocolonialism in the Middle East. Mimesis Across Empires will be a valuable resource for researchers of Indian visual culture and postcolonial art history. It also offers historians and social scientists useful insights into the complex relationship between the colonisers and the colonised between 1765 and 1860 in India.

Commissioning Artists: Community Engagement, Ethnographic Collections, and Changes in Curatorial Practices from the 1990s to 2000s in the UK

Abstract The commissioning of artists, makers and communities to respond to collections is an important curatorial strategy used by many national and regional museums and galleries. The display of commissioned work within the ethnographic collections at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and Manchester Museum are focused upon in this investigation. They are presented as examples of regional museums in England responding to the authority of the New Labour government’s cultural policies. The role these commissioned pieces play is discussed in relation to shifts in curatorial practices; the influence of New Labour’s cultural diversity agenda on this activity; the emphasis placed on the visibility of community engagement; and the issues surrounding the framing of these museum commissions as ‘authentic’.