Jeffrey Gibson and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA feature in 'To Be Free: Art and Liberty'
'To Be Free: Art and Liberty' explores human rights and freedoms, questioning what it means to be free. The Salisbury Cathedral is home to the best-preserved remaining Magna Carta, an important historical document that dissolved the absolute power of the monarchy, stating people's right to justice and fair trial. The exhibition offers a contemporary lens for its interpretation, presenting artworks that intersect with the five facets of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and freedom from fear.
Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, 'Justice for All', 2020, is one of the works on display. The sculpture was exhibited for the first time in the UK during the summer of 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd. The towering figure is a reimagining of F.W. Pomeroy’s Lady Justice, a statue which stands above the dome of The Old Bailey.
Jeffrey Gibson's 'THEY WANT TO BE FREE', 2021, is also exhibited. The textile piece combines fragments of previous works; exploring quilt making as a form of legacy portrait. Through blending Native American references with quotations from his own practice and popular culture, Gibson complicates singular perspectives of Indigenous culture to open up what he describes as “a more expansive view of what being a Native could be.”
Exhibited artists include Jeffrey Gibson, Mona Hatoum, Lucy Jones, Cornelia Parker CBE, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA and Ai Weiwei.
