Many thanks for posting these pictures on your blog.

Perhaps I should say a few words about Left in Vision 2 . This was an exhibition of visual art by left wing artists organised in conjunction with the Marxism 2008 Festival. It included more than ninety works by more than fifty artists and ranged from the overtly political to the wholly abstract and from traditional portraiture to cutting edge critical relational art films.

One of its outstanding features was its international character with work from Chile, Haiti, Egypt (the photographs of Yasser Alwan, and the portraits of Heba Helmi) , Iraq, Iran, Holland, Ireland, and South Korea. Obviously there was a strong anti-war element, represented above all by the magnificent sculptures of May Ayres (on Fallujah, John Negroponte, and Abu Ghraib) but many other social and political themes such as racism, refugees, alienation at work,homelessness Palestine,Tibet, and the treatment of benefits claimants were also addressed, as well as more personal and ‘artistic’ themes such as love and colour.

The exhibition was very well received. About 250 people attended the launch, followed by a steady stream of visitors throughout the festival who responded very warmly in the Comments Book.

We hope to repeat the exhibition (Left in Vision 3) with new work at next year’s Marxism Festival.

John Molyneux
Curator
john@molyneux8652.freeserve.co.uk