Gallery and Whitworth Exhibition

Traces of Displacement

The Traces of Displacement exhibition is part of the Understanding Displacement Aesthetics research project led by Professor Ana Carden Coyne with Dr. Chrisoula Lionis and Dr. Angeliki Rousseau.

This exhibition uses the Whitworth’s collection to address one of the major humanitarian concerns of the 20th and 21st centuries – forced displacement. In tracing displacement within the collection, a partial, fragmentary, and yet compelling set of stories is emerging from academic and community collaboration.

Traces of Displacement uncovers stories of persecution, creativity, and resilience, and the experiences of artists and makers who were displaced in their homelands, forced to flee, survived, and even thrived in exile.

Artists include Mounira al Solh, Otti Berger, Leilah Babiyre, Caroline Walker, Safdar Ahmed, Bashir Makhoul, Frank Brangwyn, Cornelia Parker, Mandla Rae, Raisa Kabir, Dusan Kusmic, Ian Rawlinson, Cecily Brown, Charles Green and Lyndell Brown, Francesco Simetti, Lucien Freud, Marc Chagall, Mary Kessell, Edward Bawden, James McBey, and Frank Auerbach amongst others.

The exhibition is being shown in the Whitworth Art Gallery from 7 April 2023 to 12 May 2024.