Snake by Clare Strand

28 April to 17 June 2017
Preview 27 April 7-9pm
Artist Talk 28 April 2pm

Belfast Exposed are delighted to present ‘Snake’ by Clare Strand, a new body of work exploring a collection of images sourced from the artist’s extensive personal archive, recently published as ‘Girl Plays with Snake’ by MACK Books. Being realised as an exhibition for the first time, the project is a continuation of Strand’s ongoing engagement with the scrapbooks, magazines and photographs that she has been drawing together since her mid-teens.

This multi-dimensional exhibition presents photography, text and technology colluding together within the gallery space. Women and girls are pictured holding, playing with and gazing fondly at snakes, juxtaposed alongside automatic generated texts orchestrated by Strand, which touch on the absurd, the intimate, the erotic and the uncanny.

“The snake has been the subject of allegory and metaphor since biblical times, signifying eternity when holding its own tail; suggesting cunning and temptation to Eve; the agent of suicide for Cleopatra, and even the symbol of health and healing in the rod of Asclepius, the god of medicine. The snake can represent both good and evil, wisdom and cunning, rejuvenation and death, and of course sexuality and the phallus. Being engaged with photography for the last 20 years, it felt the right time to share these images”. Clare Strand, 2017

Signed copies of Girl Plays with Snake published by MACK Books (2016) will be available to purchase from the Belfast Exposed bookshop. 

Artist Talk: Friday 28 April, 2pm. Booking advised - please email [email protected] to secure a place.