Ro Robertson: The Ribs Begin to Rise
ARTIST NEWS
Ro Robertson: The Ribs Begin to Rise
March 2025
The Ribs Begin to Rise is the first institutional solo show by Ro Robertson presenting a newly commissioned series of sculptural works alongside large-scale drawings and a video installation at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland.
Staged on the banks of the River Wear in Robertson’s hometown of Sunderland, The Ribs Begin to Rise takes inspiration from its location. It draws on the mouth of the River Wear, Sunderland Docks, Hendon Paper Works, the ropeworks and the 700 female shipbuilders who lived and worked in Sunderland. The exhibition reflects on Robertson’s family working-class history and the materials key to the industries which came to define Robertson’s upbringing and the region.
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 World War 2. 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. Robertson will explore 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.
The Ribs Begin to Rise aims to revise how Robertson’s working-class experience has influenced their sculptural understanding and how a queer feminist lens can reframe the rigid gender associations of sculpture and industry.
Open: 26 July – 6 December 2025
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