Tim Shaw RA: Black Smoke Rising

Belfast born sculptor Tim Shaw grapples with contemporary and political realities whilst evoking the mythical and metaphysical.

Recently elected a Royal Academician and with increasing public recognition, this is Shaw’s first solo exhibition in a major public gallery and is a unique opportunity to view a seminal body of work.

Specially reworked for MAC is the powerful installation Casting a Dark Democracy. Based on the infamous 2004 photograph of a prisoner in Abu Ghraib, The Financial Times referred to it as “…politically charged yet poetically resonant…” Critic Jackie Wullschlager went on to say: “Empathetic yet implicating us all, Casting a Dark Democracy is one of too few works to engage unequivocally with the reality and human cost of the Iraq war. It ought to stand on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, or in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall”.

Held on the first floor gallery.