LOVE & LEGACY: OUR GRANDMOTHERS
09.09.22 - 10.09.22 FRENCH STREET GALLERY
“Our Grandmothers fed us, nurtured us and are the givers of knowledge and wisdom. They are storytellers and survivors. They are loved, adored but their voices are rarely heard in public, their roles are often not formally recognised” Cat Dunn
Love & Legacy: Our Grandmothers is a joint research project by Barbadian-Scot curator Cat Dunn and South Korean artist Joy Baek that features stories of grandmothers from different cultures and time zones.
This exhibition acts as a work in progress sharing of ongoing research surrounding the traditions and changing roles of grandmothers in South Korea and Barbados, with specially commissioned artworks by South Korean artist Joy Baek.
What are the roles grandmothers play within families and within the broader community? A series of conversations and aural archive between Dunn and Baek will examine the intergenerational and intercultural exchange of stories, language, traditions, emotions and memories.
Through conversation Dunn and Baek explore the similarities and differences of race and culture, of coming from the countries and cultures of Barbados and South Korea, and of being in Glasgow at the same time while being seen as coming from marginalised communities. This ongoing collaboration has allowed both to establish a deeper understanding of the influence their grandmothers had on their own world view.
Baek and Dunn have investigated the role of the matriarchs in their family, their contributions to the everyday life of their family, and the transmission of culture and traditions to future generations. The project investigates the many ways cultural knowledge, shared histories and family traditions are kept alive from one generation to another, and the often un-acknowleged responsibility that women have as bearers of this tradition. This public sharing provides a space to celebrate and fully acknowledge the achievements, experience, knowledge, and contributions of grandmothers by giving voice to these women and their stories using archival material and oral histories.
