Collection

Golden Thread Gallery is building a permanent Collection of Northern Irish contemporary art to preserve our visual history and safeguard works of art that could otherwise be lost to the public.

Some of the most powerful and important contemporary artworks made within and about Northern Ireland in the last five decades have been exhibited just a few times, and many have not been seen by the public in years. Others have been sold to private collections or removed from Northern Ireland entirely to museums and galleries abroad. Many of the now elderly significant artists working throughout the Troubles may die without securing the future of their works.

In 2019 we were awarded funding from the Ampersand Foundation to begin to purchase works and build our collection of Northern Irish art. Works we have acquired so far thanks to Ampersand’s vital support are being catalogued, photographed and – for now – put safely and securely in storage.

The works that make up the collection fall under three main themes:

Art made during “The Troubles” that reflected the conflict

Art made during the period that spoke to wider discourse

Art made post-Agreement

As part of our plans for the evolution of the GTG, we’re working with key stakeholders to develop a permanent home for the Collection in Belfast, where it can be on display to the public and accessible to all.

Our Collection project emerged from our Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art series, an ambitious series of exhibitions and publications across a decade whose aim was to form, collectively, a significant archive of Northern Irish Art from 1945 to the present. Central to the project was an acknowledgement that there are many versions of history.

Collective Histories comprised twelve instalments realised over a ten-year period. Each instalment featured a different guest curator, selected to make their particular specialist knowledge and lived experience accessible to audiences. In the absence of any relevant permanent public collection, the project set out to create a useful historical context from which audiences and educators could engage with the stories of this place through the art of our time.

COLLECTIVE HISTORIES CHRONOLOGY

October 2005

Post War – Pre-Troubles: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Bob Sloan; David Crone; T.P. Flannagan; Colin Middleton; J.B. Vallely; Alice Berger Hammerschlag; Deborah Brown; Romeo Toogood; Basil Blackshaw; Cherith McKinstry; Paul Neitshe; Arthur Campbell; John Luke; George McCann; Roy Johnstone; William Scott; Denis McBride; F.E McWilliams.

Curated by S.B. Kennedy and Brian McAvera.

January 2006

Icons from the North: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Marie Barrett; Tom Bevan; Graham Gingles; Gerry Gleason; Jack Pakenham; Victor Sloan; Una Walker.

Curated by Brian McAvera.

October 2006

The Disembodied Eye: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: John Aiken; Willie Doherty; Rita Duffy; Errol Forbes; Elisabeth Magill; Michael Minnis; Locky Morris; Philip Napier; Paul Seawright; Dermot Seymour.

Curated by Liam Kelly.

September 2007

Double Image: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: David Crone; John Duncan; Sean Hillen; Daniel Jewesbury; Mary Theresa Keown; Elizabeth Magill; Michael Minnis; Darren Murray; Susan MacWilliam; Mary McGreevy; Dougal McKenzie; Mary McIntyre; Eamon O’Kane; Mark Orange; Peter Richards; Paul Seawright; Dermot Seymour; Dan Shipsides; Hannah Starkey; Colin Watson.

Curated by Dougal McKenzie.

September 2008

A Shout in the Street: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: John Byrne Philip Napier; Locky Morris; Alistair McLennan; Victor Sloan; Sandra Johnson; Factotum; Aisling O’Beirn; John Duncan; John Carson; Gareth Humphreys; Cain Archive; Mark Ervine; Danny Devenny; Daniel O’Neil; Colin Middleton.

Curated by Declan McGonagle.

October 2009

The Visual Force: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: John Aiken; Vivian Burnside; John Carson; Brian Connolly; Martina Corry; Lynne Davis-Jones; Ciara Finnegan; Adrian Hall; Tony Hill; Ronnie Hughes; Steve Hurst; Sharon Kelly; Fiona Larkin; Alastair MacLennan; Padraig McCann; Moira McIver; Peter Richards; Dan Shipsides; Theo Sims; Una Walker; Charles Walsh.

Curated by Dr Slavka Sverakova.

October 2010

Art Beyond Ulster: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: John Aiken; Ian Charlesworth; Cian Donnelly; Felim Egan; Graham Gingles; Vivien Hewitt; John Kindness; Darren Murray; Eilis O’Connell; Niamh O’Malley; Philip Napier; Simon Reill.

Curated by Brian Kennedy.

October 2011

Tears in Rain/ Deora san Fhearthainn: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Conrad Atkinson; Robert Ballagh; Keith Drury; Rita Duffy; Michael Farrell; F.E. McWilliam; Joseph McWilliams; Locky Morris; Aisling O’Beirn; Brian O’Doherty; Dermot Seymour

Curated by Mairtin O’Muilleoir.

October 2012

Outside and Between: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Michael Alcorn; St. Claire Allen; Betty Brown; Gerard Devlin; Philip Flanagan; Willie Heron; Tony Hill; Terry McAllister; Mark McGreevy; Rory Moore; Philip Mussen; Eddie Rafferty; Martin Wedge; Derek Wilson.

Curated by Shan McAnena.

October 2013

Catalyst Arts: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art 

Artists: Julie Louise Bacon; Amy Brooks; Ursula Burke; Lorraine Burrell; Duncan Campbell; Gerard Carson; Colm Clarke; Brian Connolly; Ben Craig; Miriam De Burca; Toby Dennet; Seamus Harahan; Kevin Henderson; Daniel Jewesbury; Lisa Malone; Ronan McCrea; Mary McIntyre; Susan MacWilliam; Deirdre McKenna; Dougal McKenzie; Stephen Miller; Eilis O’Baoil; Sinead O’Donnell; Mark Orange; Brian Patterson; Peter Richards; Duncan Ross; Helen Sharp; Dan Shipsides; Theo Sims; Karen Vaughn; Keike Twisselmann.

Curated by Dr Cherie Driver.

October 2014

This is What Comes: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Stuart Brisley; Phil Collins; Mike Kelly; Irene Sosa.

Curated by Hugh Mulholland.

October 2015

Vanishing Futures: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art

Artists: Tom Bevan; Charlotte Bosanquet; Sinead Breathnach-Cashell; Lorraine Burrell; Lisa Byrne; Ursula Burke; Miriam de Búrca; Ian Charlesworth; Colin Darke; Maurice Doherty; John Duncan; Factotum; Ciara Finnegan; Graham Gingles; Gerry Gleason; Carol Graham; Michael Hanna; Phil Hession; Tony Hill; Allan Hughes; Johanna Leech; Terry Loane; Lisa Malone; Shiro Masuyama; Michael Minnis; Locky Morris; Susan MacWilliam; Connor McFeely; Deirdre McKenna; Mary McIntyre; Moira McIver; William McKeown; Tonya McMullan; Philip Napier; Aisling O’Beirn; Ciaran Ó Dochartaigh; Sinead O’Donnell; Brendan O’Neill; Jack Pakenham; Paul Seawright; Gary Shaw; Dan Shipsides; Theo Sims; Victor Sloan; Peter Spiers; Una Walker; Alastair Wilson.

Curated by Peter Richards.

The box set of the Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art is available to purchase from our bookshop.