Shaw’s work grapples with social and political realities and he has been described by art critic Mark Hudson as ‘one of the great storytellers of British art’. Themes of ritual and conflict reoccur throughout his art, drawing both on his formative years growing up in Belfast during The Troubles and on recent events in the Middle East. His work is strongly influenced by contemporary media coverage and images of conflict. The infamous photograph of a hooded prisoner at Abu Ghraib was a direct inspiration for the monumental installation, ‘Casting a Dark Democracy’, which was part of his recent solo exhibition ‘Black Smoke Rising’, shown at the MAC, Birmingham and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in 2014.

F.E. McWilliam’s work, particularly the ‘Women of Belfast’ series, was an early inspiration for Shaw. He also met McWilliam and benefitted directly from his encouragement. Shaw’s relationship with the F.E. McWilliam Gallery dates back to 2010 when ‘Parliament’, his memorable installation of crows made from straw, wire and black plastic, was included in the exhibition ‘Material Worlds: Contemporary Sculpture from the UK and Ireland’.

This exhibition presents McWilliam’s ‘Women in a Bomb Blast’ along-side Shaw’s dramatic sculptures, ‘Man on Fire’ and ‘Tank on Fire’. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the immersive installation ‘Mother, The Air is Blue, the Air is Dangerous’, which draws on Shaw’s childhood memories of being caught up in bombings and security alerts in Belfast during the Troubles.