Gender and identity is examined in a new art piece and performances at Bury Art Museum on Thursday 7 October (7-9pm).
Resident artist Jez Dolan will unveil a collaborative reinterpretation of the painting “The Cruel Sister” by John Faed (1850). It is part of a number of explorations looking at aspects of Bury’s art collection from an LGBT+ perspective, entitled ‘60/50’.
The project title refers to two significant anniversaries this year; 60 years since the Wolfenden Report recommended the decriminalisation of sexual relations in private between men, and 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act executed partial decriminalisation.
Visitors are encouraged to come and celebrate the launch of the latest ‘60/50’ intervention in the gallery, which includes work by Phil Sayers, also one of the collaborators on the Cruel Sister project.
Two specially commissioned works will also be staged at the 60/50 Live event. Musician Greg Stephens will be joined by singers Kate Barfield and Esther Brennan, who regularly play together in the Boat Band. They will perform versions of the Cruel Sister and related songs and infuse the gallery with multiple resonances of hidden stories within the painting.
There will also be a new interpretation of “A Vocation” by Joshua Val Martin, an emerging theatre director and playwright from Bolton.
60/50 Live is made possible by funding from Arts Council England, Bury Art Museum and Superbia.
Bury Art Museum is open Tuesday to Friday (10am to 5pm) and on Saturday (10am to 4.30pm). Admission is free and the museum is fully accessible. It is located on Moss Street in Bury town centre, next to Bury Library and opposite the bus/Metrolink interchange.
Picture: “The Cruel Sister” by John Faed (1850). There will be a reinterpretation of this painting for 60/50.
