Jan Patience: Jill Bryson’s Identity, It’s a Crisis Can’t You See? is a powerful show

Identity, It’s A Crisis Can’t You See? by Jill Bryson

As one half of Glasgow indie pop duo, Strawberry Switchblade, Jill Bryson, inspired legions of young women to rock a post-punk gothic look.

Think fiery red lips, backcombed hair framed by giant bows, even bigger earrings, polka dots galore and kohl-lined eyes.

The band’s look was influenced by Bryson, who studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1979 to 1983. She formed Strawberry Switchblade with Rose McDowall. The duo is best known for hit single, Since Yesterday.

After giving up on a career in pop, she is now based on the Cowal Peninsula and has become involved in the area’s thriving art scene.

Last year, the late Colm Docherty, retired art teacher and key member of the team which staged exhibitions at Dunoon Burgh Hall, visited Bryson’s studio during Cowal Open Studios. He immediately invited her to have an exhibition at the Burgh Hall.

The resulting show, Identity, It’s a Crisis Can’t You See?, opened at the vibrant arts hub on Friday and runs until March 19. The centrepiece is a film examining issues around gender and identity. Bryson says her aim is to “provoke conversation about what female identity means to each of us.”

Three masked women in long pink, white and blue Handmaid’s Tale-style gowns stand in boxed off matching strips in a photographic studio-style set up. They dance and sway as a soundtrack plays and the voices of people from Dunoon’s LGBTQ+ community pepper the scene with phrases about how it feels to be them.

“Acceptance. Tolerance. Respect,” says Bryson towards the end of the five-minute film. The camera closes in on the women’s faces as they remove their masks.

With filmmaker Martin Clark, musician Susan Bear, and pupils from Dunoon Grammar School, Bryson has made a thought-provoking exploration of gender identity. Powerful stuff, minus the usual noise which swirls around this hot topic.

There’s a few weeks left to view the visual overload that is The Love Of Print at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery. This celebration of 50 years of printmaking at Glasgow Print Studio is a joyous celebration of the thousands of people who have made original prints with this artist-led organisation since 1972.

From Turner Prize winners and nominees to recent graduates and complete beginners, working in all sorts of styles, it’s a huge Where’s Wally of printmaking. Ends March 11.