Description
To mark Glasgow Women’s Library’s 21st anniversary, the Library commissioned 21 women artists to create new work inspired by items and artefacts in our collections.
One of each limited edition will join the GWL Archive Collection, while the rest are being sold to raise money for the Library. This is your chance to buy an exclusive artwork and support the Library’s work at the same time!
Ashley Cook, We Want, 2012
Digital Print and Screen Print, 39.6cm (w) x 39.6cm (h), Edition of 20
WE WANT is a digital print and screen-print and was made at Glasgow Print Studio and inspired by the card game PANKO in the GWL archive.
For this work, inspiration was taken from the Suffragette collection at GWL, specifically the quote ‘We want what men have, it may not be a lot but we want it just the same’, taken from a Suffragette postcard, and imagery drawn from the card game PANKO.
The central image is a photo Cook took of fellow artist Janie Nicoll in 1996 for a suite of screen-prints called ‘IT AINT EASY TO KEEP THE ONE YOU LOVE SATISFIED’. Other images are of Lady Justice, and various paradise-like images symbolising the search for a utopian ideal. The text in the work is repeated as a mantra, showing endurance and determination. The title also leaves room for further interpretation, including the longing that can be part of the female psyche.
About Ashley Cook
Ashley Cook creates narrative works with a mixture of found images and her own autographic and photographic images; iconography which she reuses, redevelops and manipulates continuously. She uses an intense palette of colour opposites that create a dreamlike and sometimes nocturnal quality to her work. Cook graduated from Glasgow School of Art with First Class BA Hons in 1986 and Postgraduate Printmaking in 1987 and has since continued to practice as a professional artist.
Cook has work in a number of prestigious collections including: the Scottish Arts Council; The BBC, Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow; The Vaasa Museum, Finland and Galeria OtraVez, Los Angeles.
Buy Ashley Cook’s We Want now
This print is available for £225. You can arrange to pick the print up at GWL, or have it sent by post (£20 UK/£40 International). Please select the option you prefer from the drop-don menu above. You can also buy the print directly at GWL.
The print is also available framed for £300. We are not able to send framed prints by post – we will contact you when the framed print is available to pick up.
Laura –
I have this print up in my hall – it is framed by the glass door in my living room so I get double enjoyment in 2 different rooms. A lovely print with a strong message.