Cork 2005: Writer, journalist and broadcaster Marina Warner will be in Cork on September 3rd next to give a talk on the joint exhibitions of childhood at UCC's Glucksman Gallery - a series of lithographs and prints by Paula Rego on themes from Jane Eyre and the Children's Crusade; and Through the Looking Glass: Childhood in Contemporary Photography, for which Glucksman director Fiona Kearney has gathered work from Rineke Dijkstra, David Farrell, Anna Gaskell, Martin Healy, Loretta Lux and Wendy McMurdo.
These pictures do not represent the "united colours" of children, says Kearney, whose provocative interpretation of Alice in Wonderland for this exhibition concentrates on childhood at a point of change; each artist is determined to convey something of the actual experience of being a child.
The children - subjects not objects according to Kearney - are sometimes shown as a straightforward photograph record, sometimes placed in an almost metaphorical arrangement, sometimes staring directly back at the viewer, and sometimes engaged in a moment of realisation. There is no hint of the voyeur and therefore no need for the moral panic that observing childhood can sometimes arouse - although the Rego room has its disturbing moments, especially in the imagery of the Children's Crusade.
According to Kearney, Rego has always been drawn to literary themes as inspiration, especially those with a sinister element, and the link between both exhibitions will be made by Marina Warner, who wrote the introduction to Rego's published Jane Eyre etchings and who was the curator for the recent show Childhood at Compton Verney in the UK.
"I'm afraid I'm not at all detached," says Kearney of her invitation to Marina Warner. "I wrote her a fan letter - I knew she would be the ideal person to draw both these shows together. And I also knew how good it would be to have someone of her calibre talking here in Cork." A book on the exhibition, which is supported by Cork 2005, will be published in September.
