A Witness to Power, a retrospective exhibition of works by the artist and social historian Nicola Green, will be displayed at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, from the 9th October to the 20th December 2019.
Curated by Lizzie Collins of the Zuleika Gallery in association with Hollandridge Group, the exhibition encompasses over fifty works, and brings together two of Green’s critically acclaimed series for the first time: In Seven Days… (2010) and Encounters (2018).
When creating these two bodies of work the artist gained remarkable access to both President Barack Obama and the world’s most pre-eminent religious leaders including Pope Francis, The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
A Witness to Power raises important questions about identity and the perception of difference; to inspire others with this story of cross-cultural dialogue.
In Seven Days… was produced from Green’s experience as a first-hand witness to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. She created a series of seven large-scale silkscreen prints which capture the significance of President Obama’s campaign and its importance in the long trajectory of history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art described In Seven Days… as ‘an artistic and historic masterpiece.’
For Encounters, Green spent a decade travelling the world, witnessing and chronicling new and unprecedented developments in interfaith dialogue.She won the confidence of figures including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Pope Francis, former Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa, Emeritus Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama.
From this experience, Green realised she was observing a new development in our collective history: that religious leaders were beginning, for the first time, to publicly articulate their respect for other faiths, without undermining the absolute truth of their own. Green distilled all of this into a series of portraits, presented in two forms The Encounter Series and The Light Series.
The Encounters series is comprised of 30 portraits displayed together in a shared space and of equal status; Green is proud to be the first artist in history to depict all the world’s major religions together, without hierarchy.
The Light Series is made up of twelve, life-sized, Perspex figures, which can be found across the Said Business school campus. Everyone is invited to meet the figures, to interact with them, and to take photos.
The exhibition launch will be accompanied by a Q & A between Nicola Green and renowned author and scholar Saeb Eigner.
Curator Tours will take place Fridays 12.30 - 13.45 from 9 October to 20 December. A weekend tour will also take place on Saturday 23rd November 12 - 1pm.
