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Arts
Review, London, 17 October 1989
Victor Sloan - Walls
Orchard Gallery, Londonderry
Ferryquay Gate, Derry
When
history with all its bias and fabrication has been absorbed into
the bloodstream from birth, there is no hope that it can be
unlearned. A sense of historical consciousness among Irish people
in general is very high, but much of such history is far from
factual and will remain so until social change undermines its
instrumental function. The long predicted demythologising of Irish
history has been a long time in gestation and still seems a long
way off.
What
then are we to make of an exhibition such as the one currently on
show at the Orchard Gallery in Londonderry? “Walls” is the work of
Victor Sloan, one of Ireland’s leading photographic artists, and
at first glance might appear to be a rather clichéd exploration of
part of Northern Ireland’s historico-political arena. Here we have
Orangemen, those stout defenders of Protestant liberties,
interminably on the march, banners flying, and drums beating. Here
we have Derry’s famous walls, in themselves a cultural image for
both the city’s divided communities. In a visual environment where
most public architecture is so commonplace as to become almost
invisible, the walls of Derry stand heavily charged with
significance in relation to the everyday lives of the city’s
inhabitants, and indeed the lives of all of the people of Ireland.
What
can an artist do with images such as these in order to get us to
look beneath the surface of what is being presented? Indeed, is it
even possible for an artist working with such strong local images
to put across a statement or series of statements, which will have
any kind of universal appeal? The answer is an unqualified ‘yes’.
The images on show here are no mere clichés. In the artist’s hands
the clichés have become subverted and in turn have become a
commentary on the divisions which bedevil Irish society – the
‘walls’ that divide the two local communities also divide the past
from the present. This in itself is an ironic comment on the Irish
tendency to live past history in the present.
In
many ways ‘Walls’ is a view of life lived under siege. In the city
of Derry, the Protestant minority live their lives under siege
from the city’s Roman Catholic majority; in Northern Ireland
itself, the Catholic majority are under siege from the Protestant
majority; while in Ireland as a whole the Protestant minority are
under siege from the country’s Catholic majority – a siege within
a siege within a siege!
Victor Sloan’s powers of observation, which have been clearly
demonstrated in a number of previous exhibitions, present this
sense of tension combined with vulnerability with considerable
force. Many of the images that he uses, while at first glance
appearing commonplace or superficial, are far from simple. On
various levels the walls which divide the communities in Northern
Ireland are historical, cultural, political or, sometimes, merely
fanciful. But the walls of division which exist between
individuals, groups or communities in society today are certainly
not peculiar to the Irish situation and this is something the
artist clearly wishes us to recognise. Victor Sloan is a former
painter who now works on 35mm negatives, scraping out part of an
image and using paint or ink directly on to the negative. When the
negative has been printed up, he uses toners and watercolours in
order to highlight and heighten aspects of the final printed
image. It is a flexible technique and, in this case, a
surprisingly effective one.
Sloan’s images, both the obvious and the obscure, highlight his
concern for the subtle disposition of cultural layers. There is a
fluid use of time and space in the juxtaposition of historical and
modern references, hints of a past culture subverted and
transposed by modern influences. Above all, there is a sense of
history, if not time itself, having been transcended.
‘Walls’ is a fascinating exhibition that deserves to be widely
seen. It marks a further important step in the development of an
artist who clearly has the ability to break new ground. It will be
very interesting indeed to see which direction he takes after a
series of exhibitions that have explored various aspects of
Northern Irish political life through images which are both
multi-layered and concise, oblique and yet accessible. ‘Walls’
gives us plenty of examples of Sloan’s technical virtuosity but
this never allowed to overwhelm or intrude unnecessarily, and
overall the multiplicity of technique serves to draw the viewer in
and to add a continual element of surprise.
Gerry Burns
www.art-review.com
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