Copyright scotsman
The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), in the centre of Glasgow, has announced an extensive new photography exhibition exploring Glasgow’s past and present. Still Glasgow, comprising over 80 works, showcases well-known photographs of the city drawn from Glasgow Life Museums’ collection alongside other, lesser-known works. Some photographs on display have not been exhibited since their acquisition by Glasgow Life Museums, including Alan Dimmick’s portrait of rock band Franz Ferdinand, and David Eustace’s Buskers Portfolio from 1993. The exhibition, set to run from November 29 to April next year, coincides with the closing months of Glasgow 850, the year-long celebration of the city’s 850th birthday, and ahead of GoMA’s 30th anniversary in 2026. The exhibition will also include moving image, with Roderick Buchanan’s film Gobstopper (1999), which riffs on the Glaswegian childhood game of trying to hold your breath while going through the Clyde Tunnel. It also explores the way in which artists use the photographic medium, including work by Alasdair Gray, as well as photos of artists at work, such as in Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan’s Easels, and Oscar Marzaroli’s portrait of painter Joan Eardley in her Glasgow Townhead studio. In Still Glasgow, GoMA says it it is taking a fresh look at both the city and its photography, and responding to comments from out-of-town visitors who are keen to learn more about the city they are visiting, and the artists and photographers who live there. It highlights work by women artists, including photographic panels from What’s It to You? by video artists Stansfield/Hooykaas. This ground-breaking installation was made and first exhibited in Glasgow, in 1975, the year the city celebrated its 800th birthday. Alongside well-known names – including Linda McCartney, David Eustace, Bert Hardy, and Oscar Marzaroli – the exhibition gives space to other photographers and experiences, and other perspectives on the city, as documented through groups like Glendale Women’s Café, and Romano Lav in the Southside of Glasgow, and through Iseult Timmerman’s images of the Red Road Flats before they were demolished in 2015. Katie Bruce, Curator/Producer at GoMA said: “Glasgow is a city that has energy, creativity, and a history of invention and change. “Through over 80 works from the 1940s to the present day, Still Glasgow celebrates its multiple entwined histories – of culture, class, protest, humour and ambition – but looks beyond nostalgia and asks how the city can imagine its future in its 850th year.”
