2022, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, A History of Morality -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings explore authority in our public spaces, questioning how social hierarchy, order and obedience are negotiated.
Tulips consists of six fresco paintings and a large-scale drawing. The frescoes depict scenes of exchange, conflict and familiarity. Quinlan and Hastings imagine these scenes unfolding on streets, public parks and gardens where different modes of authority compete against one another. The legal authority of the police contends with the unruly authority of the public, as well-dressed women perform the outrage of their moral authority. The works examine power and visibility through the lens of class, gender, sexuality, race and social relations in everyday life.
The artists have chosen to work with fresco, a traditional technique of mural painting composed on freshly laid lime plaster. They are usually monumental in scale, depicting symbolic or moralistic scenes in places of worship, municipal buildings or private residences. Working on wet plaster is a laborious, time sensitive process. Each painting is constructed in sections called giornata, meaning 'a day's work'; faint seams across their surface separates one day's work from the next.
Quinlan and Hastings' collaborative practice is grounded in research into how various communities have been represented at different moments in history. Drawing on a range of visual sources such as archival street photography, each work evokes a number of eras by referencing historical artworks, clothing and architecture.
Layered with history and meaning, the works examine how the state shapes our public spaces and architecture, and how these environments may shape our behaviours and desires. Tulips invites you to question what it means to occupy public spaces today and how we might reimagine this for the future.
2022, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, A History of Morality -- Tate Britain (London)
From the museum label: Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings explore authority in our public spaces, questioning how social hierarchy, order and obedience are negotiated.
Tulips consists of six fresco paintings and a large-scale drawing. The frescoes depict scenes of exchange, conflict and familiarity. Quinlan and Hastings imagine these scenes unfolding on streets, public parks and gardens where different modes of authority compete against one another. The legal authority of the police contends with the unruly authority of the public, as well-dressed women perform the outrage of their moral authority. The works examine power and visibility through the lens of class, gender, sexuality, race and social relations in everyday life.
The artists have chosen to work with fresco, a traditional technique of mural painting composed on freshly laid lime plaster. They are usually monumental in scale, depicting symbolic or moralistic scenes in places of worship, municipal buildings or private residences. Working on wet plaster is a laborious, time sensitive process. Each painting is constructed in sections called giornata, meaning 'a day's work'; faint seams across their surface separates one day's work from the next.
Quinlan and Hastings' collaborative practice is grounded in research into how various communities have been represented at different moments in history. Drawing on a range of visual sources such as archival street photography, each work evokes a number of eras by referencing historical artworks, clothing and architecture.
Layered with history and meaning, the works examine how the state shapes our public spaces and architecture, and how these environments may shape our behaviours and desires. Tulips invites you to question what it means to occupy public spaces today and how we might reimagine this for the future.