FEEL INSPIRED AT THE WHITWORTH ART GALLERY

By Emily Brown

The gallery is situated just a short walk away from The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. With its close proximity to 2sities, it is easily accessible for students looking for insight, to admire the works on display or even just to alleviate exam stress. The building itself is hard to miss; situated on Oxford Road, next to Whitworth Park, its bright red bricks plainly contrast the neutral coloured buildings in the area. unpaid domestic work and a reduced income since the pandemic. The report displays how this particularly impacts women in South Asia, as discrimination experienced by girls and women in South Asia is higher than in the majority of developing countries.

Whitworth states that Exchanges aims to “depart from a narrow art history that privileges white male artists”. This is clear as Whitworth’s Exchanges: Recent Additions to the Collection focuses on contemporary textile art by women artists from South Asia. The exhibition has been expanding and changing since 2018, meaning there is always the opportunity for new artists to be represented. Bharti Parmar’s embroidery Cotton thread on cotton linen highlights Covid-19’s impact on the South Asian community in the UK and India.

The gallery has labelled their shop as a ‘shop of creativity’. This is evident with the selection of artistic products to browse or purchase. You can buy prints and books from local artists as well as those on display in Whitworth’s exhibitions. The shop includes items such as notebooks, paint brushes, watercolours, and pencils to motivate you to create your own artwork. When the gallery is closed, you can still browse their products online on the Whitworth Shop.

The embroidery on the right represents the spread of the virus, and the embroidery on the left contains numerous icons that resemble specific experiences of the 2020 pandemic. One of the icons is an image of a woman. A simple image, yet it conveys gender disparities intensified by the stay-at-home message and lockdowns. The World Bank Group’s (2022) report reveals that more women have found themselves with an increase in