As the city celebrates the 200 year anniversary of the Peterloo massacre in many ways there are a few more unique than Alex Sickling’s ‘Misshaping Peterloo’ taking place at Manchester Craft & Design Centre. The illustrator and ceramicist has been commissioned to create a collection inspired by the fateful events in August 1819 as artists were also asked to do so some two centuries before. Working with ideas around “radical ceramics”, how and why we commemorate disaster and political events, finding humour in dark times and how key facts become distorted when meeting a deadline, this exhibition will look at Peterloo from the eyes of the collectors, enthusiasts and consumers.

Thu 23 May – Sat 7 Sep, Manchester Craft and Design Centre, 17 Oak Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JD. Tel:0161 832 4274, times vary, FREE, www.craftanddesign.com

Thu 23 May - Sat 7 Sep
Words:
John Stansfield
Published on:
Sat 31 Aug 2019