A new engaging exhibition ‘Barbara Freeman: A Retrospective’ has opened at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio, Banbridge and runs until Saturday 27 September 2025.
This first large-scale survey of Freeman’s work introduces the public to this award-winning artist who has exhibited internationally and now in her late 80s, continues to experiment and push herself to create new innovative work.
The retrospective features a broad range of Freeman’s work from an early drawing ‘Homage to Dürer’ dating from 1973 to her new series of digital images ‘Time Past Remembered’ made this year and her award-winning film ‘Itacha’ from 2023.
Utilising a wide range of media including sculpture, painting, print, installation, sound and film, Freeman’s constantly evolving practice fluctuates between figuration and abstraction to explore themes including time, memory and history.
Speaking about the new exhibition, Gallery Curator and Manager, Dr Riann Coulter, said:
“This major survey exhibition showcases a striking collection of Barbara’s work and provides a fantastic opportunity to explore her artistic evolution over half a century of innovative art making.”
Born in London in 1937, Freeman studied at Central St. Martins and Camberwell Colleges of Art, followed by postgraduate study at the University of Leeds before moving to Belfast where she has lived and worked for over 40 years.
Collaboration is at the heart of Freeman’s art. She has often worked with composers and musicians to create installations that combine sound and image and respond to a particular place, both as a physical space and a sonic environment. In 2020, she joined Na Cailleacha, the collective of formidable older women artists based in Ireland, with whom she continues to work and exhibit.
Freeman’s work has been exhibited widely, with solo shows in Ireland, Britain, the United States, Hungary, Germany, and former Yugoslavia.
Her artworks have featured in collections displayed by the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Royal Courts of Justice, and The Royal Hospitals.
This exhibition has been curated by Dr Fionna Barber, Reader in Art History at Manchester School of Art and Dr Riann Coulter.
It will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by Fionna Barber and an interview between Freeman and art historian and Na Cailleacha colleague, Catherine Marshall.
The F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free. For further information, go to visitarmagh.com/femcwilliam
