In their first show for six months, Norwich Castle Art Gallery is back with a thought-provoking exhibition exploring urban living.
The World We Live In: Art in the Urban Environment, is an Arts Council Collection touring show which brings 35 works of national and global credibility to Norwich.
A few works from the Norfolk Museum Services' collection have been added to the tour, including an L.S. Lowry.
Painting, sculpture, documentary photography, drawing, and moving image pieces are among those chosen from the 2,000-artist strong Arts Council Collection, coming together in the exhibition, exploring what cities mean to them.
The show is a social comment on life within a city, compelling us to reflect on our communities through the format of art. A reading list is even available from the Norwich Castle website, to continue processing ideas within the exhibition after you have left.
Rosy Gray, curator at Norwich Castle Art Gallery, says how the exhibition explores "how the character of those areas changes and shifts, how they go in waves, associated with certain communities, shifting over time.
"The show explores the idea of our urban environments needing to work for us, particularly now. It opens up that space to reflect on the future of our own cities, what Norwich means for us."
Themes of social deprivation, conflict, class, community and gentrification are just some explored within the exhibition. Imagined symbolic scenes sit next to real stories, and we are reminded of the various highs and lows and contrasts of life within urban environments across the world.
A space no longer occupied by a pub once alive with laughter and joy is in depicted in George Shaw's painting Patriarchy; conflict and neighbourhood is explored within the selection of documentary photographs. First-hand experience of a community being torn apart by gentrification is portrayed in Andrea Luka Zimmerman's 80-minute documentary film. The list goes on.
Resonating and poignant, it's a collection not to miss.
The World We Live In: Art in the Urban Environment, is on show at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery Art September 4. Entry to the exhibition is including in your general admission ticket.
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