The Graves Gallery in Sheffield City Centre is often home to a range of temporary curations, always with a fresh artistic perspective to their regular collection. One of these collections, particularly poignant with many, is Identity, which aims to explore what it means to identify and how we have changed.
Identity is a collection of artwork by a range of artists, including Hew Locke, Jacqueline Morreau and Grayson Perry, and explores how ideas surrounding our identity and our concept of identity has been interpreted, changed and evolved over time. The collection features a range of pieces of artwork, sculpture, photography and other mediums, with each artist’s work carefully selected to showcase a range of ideas.
This collection, although small, is a varied and interesting range of artistic depictions of something that many people don’t spend much time particularly focused on. The range of artwork and the perspectives offered by the artists is touching and really encourages you to think of things in a new way. My favourite piece is easily ‘Comfort Blanket’ by Grayson Perry, a huge tapestry featuring concepts, people and groups who are synonymously British, including our phrases, Oxbridge, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II and many more, all arranged in the form of a £10 note. It is striking and enjoyable to read through everything mentioned and see what ‘Britishness’ is often reduced to.
Identity is a small but striking collection that really encourages viewers to think about what parts of the artists’ identities are most important to them, as well as what our own identity means to us. I would definitely love to see more artists’, or even regular people’s, own interpretation of their identities.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Identity is on display in Graves Gallery until December 2nd
