Colin Davidson: Silent Testimony

Colin Davidson is a contemporary artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since graduating in 1991 from the University of Ulster with a first-class honors degree, he has structured his practice in themes, and since 2010 his focus has been on painting grand-scale portraits, which have won widespread recognition and many international awards. As well as numerous commissions, Davidson’s portrait sitters have included Brad Pitt, Ed Sheeran, Liam Neeson, Brian Friel, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Christy Moore, Dame Mary Peters, Edna O’Brien, Gary Lightbody, Marketa Irglova, Glen Hansard, Mark Knopfler, and Seamus Heaney. His work is held in many public and corporate collections worldwide, including Queen’s University Belfast, the Ulster Museum (Belfast), Standard Life (London), the National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin), the Standard Chartered Bank of Asia, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.), the Westminster House of Commons Portrait Collection (London), and the National Portrait Gallery (London). 

Silent Testimony, Davidson’s recent exhibition of portrait paintings, reveals the stories of eighteen people who are connected by their individual experiences of loss through the Troubles—a turbulent 30-year period in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards. This critically acclaimed body of work was on show at the Ulster Museum Belfast during 2015, before embarking on a tour which included the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, Dublin Castle, and the United Nations. 

In December 2015, he was commissioned by Time magazine to paint the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, for the cover for its “Person of the Year” issue. In 2016, Davidson was invited to paint an official portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, which was unveiled later that year by the Queen in London. In 2019 his official portrait of President Bill Clinton was unveiled by the Past President in New York, and in 2020, his portrait of Irish President Michael D. Higgins was unveiled in Dublin.

Kim Mawhinney is senior curator of art at the Ulster Museum, National Museums NI. She is primarily responsible for the historic and international contemporary Applied Art Collections and since 2009 Kim has also curated the Troubles Art collection. 

Throughout her career Kim has curated, juried and selected exhibitions, lectured and written about the history and development of museums and art curation, accessibility of art collections, curating and interpreting Troubles art, both nationally and internationally. Building relationships and engaging with collaborative projects with national and international partners has been key in both her curatorial practice and for bringing important exhibitions to the Ulster Museum. Through community engagement and developing new audiences, Kim is an active advocate that museums exist for everyone.

Kim is the current chair of Craft NI and sits on the board of the Belfast International Arts Festival and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.