COINS OF THE REALM 19.05 - 24.06
MATT PACKER
This is an accompanying exhibition to the FWA show, which addresses in a more personal language some of the themes that are discussed in it. In Coins of the Realm, Matt Packer develops the question of territoriality and its inscription onto the small-scale experiences of personal life. He ties together the symbolic presence of economic forces with the faculty of the body, diagnosis, and authority in a series of Photographic collages that emphasis the still potent poetry of visibility and Refusal.
“The series of photo-collages operate from an anecdote told by my parents about my sister’s diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Until she was aged 6 or 7, there was no medical consensus about the cause of my sister’s learning difficulties. Living in rural Wales at the time, my parents and sister visited several doctors in order to establish a diagnosis. On one occasion, as a test of mental and linguistic proficiency, a doctor asked my sister to name ‘the coins of the realm’ - an antiquated way of referring to British currency. My sister, not understanding the question, said nothing.” Matt Packer
Matt Packer is Curator of Exhibitions & Projects at Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, where he has curated exhibitions including 'School Days: the look of learning' (2010-11), 'Grin & Bear It: cruel humour in art & life' (2009), 'Getting Even: oppositions & dialogues in contemporary art' (2008), and 'Wishful Thinking' (2011), a touring programme of artists' film. Independent curatorial projects include 'When Flanders Failed' (2011), co-curated with Stephen Brandes, at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, and 'Ice Trade' (2007), co-curated with Kim Dhillon, at Chelsea Space, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London. He studied on the Curatorial programme at Goldsmiths College, London, and is a current member of IKT, the international association of curators of contemporary art.
More available at http://www.mattpacker.net
