Sunderland's women shipyard workers inspire new exhibition heading to city gallery

The Ribs Begin to Rise is the first institutional solo show by artist Ro Robertson presenting a newly-commissioned series of sculptural works alongside large-scale drawings and a video installation.

Staged at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA), within the National Glass Centre, The Ribs Begin to Rise takes inspiration from its location.

It draws on Sunderland Docks, Hendon Paper Works, the ropeworks and the 700 female shipbuilders who lived and worked in wartime Sunderland at the shipyards which once lined the banks of the Wear.

The exhibition, which opens at NGCA on Saturday, July 26, reflects on Ro’s family working-class history in Sunderland and the materials key to the industries which came to define Ro’s upbringing.

The exhibition’s title The Ribs begin to Rise is taken from a small magazine titled Build the Ships written in 1946 telling the story of the life of a ship.

Unusually, this magazine includes a photograph of women working in the shipyards during WW2.

Unlike most photography which positioned women in poses directed by the male gaze, this image shows the women unaware of the camera and working harmoniously in relation to the monumental structure they were working on.

As with most depictions of ships and shipbuilding much of the language is anthropomorphic – often using parts of the body to describe parts of a ship, referring to ships as women, as being birthed and being made up of a giant structure of ribs.

Ro’s exhibition explores gendered and bodily connections to materials, industry, and the natural landscape touching upon queer ecologies and understandings of strength, hardness, softness and scale - combining masculinities and femininities in flux rather than being in opposition.

Jon Weston, Curator at NGCA, said: “We are delighted to present Ro’s newly commissioned work to audiences in their home city of Sunderland and further afield regionally, nationally and internationally.

“Ro has carefully researched the position of women in the shipbuilding industries of the North East of England from the Second World War through to the decline of heavy industry in the 1980’s.

“This project has allowed Ro to further expand on this research while drawing inspiration from their family’s working background and the industrial materials connected to both their sculptural practice and the heavy industries of North East England.

“Located on the banks of the River Wear, situated on the site of the last shipyard in Sunderland (J.L. Thompson and Sons, closed 1986), NGCA provides the perfect location to host Ro’s most personal and interconnected work to date.”

The Ribs Begin To Rise is generously supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.