A superb show by Tom McKendrick mourns, celebrates and explores Glasgow's great shipbuilding past, writes lain Gale.
It was the lifeblood of a city. For century shipbuilding sustained Glasgow - fed it, clothed it, housed it, and in return Glasgow gave its men. Hundreds of thousands of them - to be sacrificed in the cathedrals of the Shipyards, to the gods of the battleship and liner.
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| They made their libations in sweat. Their prayer books were the pay slip and the time sheet; their litany the poetry of the imperial measurement. Anyone who thinks this a somewhat fanciful rendition of an old and well-worn story - the religious analogy a little precious - should visit Iron, Tom McKendrick's extraordinary new display at Glasgow's Collins Gallery. |
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Without a hint of contrivance, McKendrick has transformed the exhibition space into a temple to the rivet gods of the Clyde. And he is well qualified to do so. Born in Clydebank in 1948, McKendrick became an apprentice in John Brown's shipyard at the age of 15. The tale he tells of the reality of that existence is bound to strike home with his fellow ex-employees. It may reduce some to tears. Even Hard Men sometimes cry.
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Iron 1
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