3/11/23
Reimag(in)ing the Victorians in Contemporary Art
Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham
23 September 2023 – 7 January 2024
What do you associate with the Victorian period? Pre-Raphaelite painting? Fairies? The development of photography? Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution? An increasing interest in the natural world? Colonialism? Well, all these fantastical – and sobering – ingredients come together in the cauldron of this slick exhibition, curated by Isobel Elstob, assistant professor in art history at the University of Nottingham, who has conjured it up as a visual expression of her forthcoming (and, sadly, prohibitively expensive) book of the same title (point being: see the show now free!). Spread through the four rooms of the Djanogly Gallery on the university campus, the exhibition marries magic and mystery, science and art, with a different flavour to each space, but a steady focus on the female and otherwise oppressed.
Read the full review here