Two Colin Davidson Exhibitions Come to Irish Arts Center

Irish Arts Center presents two exhibitions of work from renowned Belfast-born contemporary artist Colin Davidson.

Silent Testimony, an exhibition of large-scale portrait paintings, reveals the stories of eighteen people who are connected by their individual experiences of loss through the Troubles, the turbulent 30-year period in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards.

Curated by Kim Mawhinney—Senior Curator of Art at National Museums Northern Ireland—the exhibition fills IAC’s state-of-the-art theatre with the multitude of stories intimated in Davidson’s stirring portraiture (September 16–October 8). In this blurring of theatre and gallery, IAC continues to reveal its boundless vision for the narratives and art-forms its flexible space can contain. Alongside Silent Testimony, new works from Davidson will be on view in Selected Paintings and Drawings, also curated by Mawhinney, September 16–December 17, and displayed throughout the Irish Arts Center.

The organization will host an Artist Talk on Monday, October 2 at 6pm, and a Meet the Curator event on Saturday, September 16, from 1-5pm, with talks at 1:30pm and 3pm. Tickets/reservations for the free events can be found at irishartscenter.org.

In conjunction with the exhibitions, on October 4, IAC will unveil a newly commissioned Davidson creation to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement: a portrait of Senator George Mitchell, the special envoy to Northern Ireland who co-chaired the talks leading to the historic peace agreement. The Irish Arts Center commission of Senator Mitchell’s portrait is made possible by Robert J. McCann and Kea Capel, and Loretta Brennan Glucksman.

In Silent Testimony, Davidson’s exploration of common humanity is a powerful response to a conflict that has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on thousands of individuals—the injured and killed, their families, and the wider community. Says Mawhinney, “Colin Davidson is not only an internationally important artist, he is a humanitarian who understands the power of art and how it can converse with the viewer. Silent Testimony may have been seen by over 100,000 people to date, but it still has the power to stop people in their tracks and demand their attention… This exhibition is the most powerful and emotive exhibition I have ever had the privilege to curate, openly bringing people to tears, since its first showing at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, in 2015.”

On the occasion of the exhibition’s debut in 2015, Davidson told National Museums Northern Ireland in an interview, that the series emerged from “the sense of injustice, the sense…that this massive section of our community was paying for everyone else’s peace.” He elaborated, “In the rhetoric of moving on, which we were all encouraged to do, this is a massive section of our community that can’t. That percolated through the years with me to the point that I wanted to comment on it as an artist.”

Selected Paintings and Drawings, meanwhile, gives background to themes that have recurred in the celebrated artist’s practice for decades, from his portraits of some of Ireland’s cultural heroes or figure life paintings to urban interpretations of his home city, Belfast.

Says Mawhinney, “It was important for us to put Silent Testimony in the context of Colin Davidson’s existing artistic practice. While he is known for large-scale portrait paintings of famous people, Colin continues to explore many different themes in his work; some of these can be viewed around the rest of the building.”

Exhibition Hours

Monday to Friday, 6-8pm
Saturday and Sunday: 1pm to 5pm
With exception of Oct 3 (closed all day) and Oct 8 (open 12pm to 3pm)

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