The Raincoats - Adventures

Gina Birch    |    Ana da Silva    |    Shirley O'Loughlin

film, drawings, photographs 1977 – 2011

The Raincoats, formed by Ana da Silva and Gina Birch in 1977, created a sound, inspired by punk, and became a significant source of inspiration for future generations of artists and musicians alike. A series of photographs, drawings and video works will be presented in a gallery setting for the duration of the POP, accompanied by an artist talk and reception. Works exhibited will include:

Shirley O'Loughlin - Photographs, 1971 - 2011 (silver prints, variable dimensions)

Gina Birch - videos : Icons (part 1), 8 mins (2009)   |    Burning 100 Bras, 4 min. and 45s. (2009)   |    Scream. 8 mins. (1978)   |    Jump. 1min. (1977)

Ana da Silva - Collection of drawings  (oil on paper, Large volume of 30 x 42 cms, unframed)

Artist Statements:

. . . . . . . . . . . .

/ Ana da Silva

Born and raised in sunny yet repressive Portugal

open but tied up

1974, the April Revolution

a country full of hope

censorship and secrets vanished

cinemas screened kisses and ‘Battleship Potemkin’.

Anything seemed possible,

but I still wanted to go beyond the horizon.

I moved to london where men wore ear rings

I went to art school

punk helped me start from scratch

I wanted to make art and music:

Direct, full of meaning and possibilities,

reflecting a view of myself and the world I live in,

feeling free, unafraid,

questioning, learning, taking risks,

looking in the shadows.

I look at the past

I look at the present

I look at the future

I want to get to the lighthouse

. . . . . . . . . . . .

/ Gina Birch

Filmmaker, artist and singer songwriter.

Mother, feminist, cleaner, cook, worrier, warrior,

political

contagious

analytical

a pushover

a fighter

a believer

I’m a mother

I’m a cleaner

I’m an artist

Art school changed my life, liberated me from a dreary existence, then punk rock shook my foundations and sent me in another stratosphere, a world where politics and music collided, where art and culture exploded. And now I am a shimmering, glinting and sometime shadowy woman who sings and cries and makes films and music videos, makes art with her kids and plays music with and without her oldest friends.I live in the same street off Westbourne Grove where I moved to, in a squalid squat in 1976 and now it is a chi chi abode, with bankers for neighbours instead of artists and artisans. But there is hope that all these bankers will realize that the true religion is not money but art and ideas and all fall in love!! Dream on sisters!

. . . . . . . . . . . .

/ Shirley O’Loughlin

I am researching Shouting Out Loud, a photographic body of work, which incorporates image and text in the form of a journey reflecting on my collaborations with the Raincoats during post-punk (1978-84) through Riot Grrrl in the nineties to current alliances with Girl Monster. Currently Principal Lecturer in Photographic Arts in the Department of Photography and Film at the University of Westminster, London, UK.

The tenderest pain hits my chest, pierces it, 

my skin falls off.

The building collapses and I fall on the floor.

Blistering, soaring violin makes me fly.

Her dark brown voice embraces me,

takes me on a journey of love and despair.

‘A scar is open I make mistakes’