Art News

New and Recent Works by Ruth Ewan in First Major Show at Dundee Contemporary Arts

DUNDEE.- Dundee Contemporary Arts presents new and recent works by Ruth Ewan in her first major solo show in the United Kingdom. For Brank & Heckle, Ruth Ewan explores notions of enforced silence and vocal protest by combining her ongoing interest in creative forms of agitation with new work responding to Dundee’s social heritage. Ewan is interested in viewing history as alive, relevant and capable of configuring the future. Conceptually led but socially realised, her work takes specific historical images and sounds and renders them ‘active’ through use. The exhibition title combines two conflicting ideas: ‘Brank’ refers to the Scottish word for the Scold’s Bridle, used to silence and torture women, while ‘Heckle’ refers to an act of spontaneous vocal engagement, said to have originated in Dundee’s jute mills. Born in Aberdeen, Ruth Ewan grew up in Fife and studied at Edinburgh Col