Violence Religion Injustice Death: An exhibition responding to BREXIT fuelled violence and political fragility in Northern Ireland

Martin Seeds grew up in Belfast at the height of The Troubles in the 1970s and 1980s. Through his practice he engages with the conflicting experiences of Northern Irish identity, politics and culture. The exhibition will include a large-scale installation of Seeds’ latest body of work, Masks - over 150 unique silver gelatin contact prints of balaclava ski masks, hand-made in the darkroom with the screen of an iPad.

This series marks a new departure in the artist’s practice driven by the fact that Northern Ireland and the “Irish Question” has been thrust into the centre of political discourse surrounding the Brexit negotiations. The Masks are an expression of the artist’s darkest fears that Brexit could lead to a complete unravelling of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and a return to the sectarian violence that was the backdrop to his early life. The exhibition will also include new works from the series Disagreements, part of a long-term project made in the grounds of the Stormont Estate, home of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast.