June 17–October 8, 2017
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
Wilderness Way treats Margaret Thatcher’s visit to Teesside in 1987 as a jumping-off point to reflect on a period that shaped the global present. The exhibition is structured around key episodes of Thatcher’s career between 1977 and 1987, including strikes, riots, and wars. It features critical representations of Thatcher, and topics both past and present associated with her policies. Art, documentation, photographic records, film, news footage, music, scratch video, printed matter, and memorabilia illustrate such themes as class struggle, agency, racial division, and protest.
Image credit: Peter Reimann, The Gazette
The participating artists are Larry Achiampong and David Blandy with Kamile Ofoeme, John Akomfrah/Black Audio Film Collective, Conrad Atkinson, Chila Kumari Burman, Jeremy Deller, Duvet Brothers, Aikaterini Gegisian, Dawn Mellor, Keith Piper, and Vron Ware; the items and archival materials are drawn from BBC Look North, Teesside Archives, The Gazette, and local personal holdings.