GLASGOW.- A capsule collection of recent work by renowned, Glasgow-based artist Jacqueline Donachie has been acquired for The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow in partnership with the National Fund for Acquisitions. Three sculptures, one print and one film, which explore the concepts of disability, care and loss, featured in her successful solo show Deep in the Heart of Your Brain at GoMA in 2016. This represents the first major acquisition of Jacqueline Donachie’s work by a public collection in Scotland.

Donachie (born in 1969) lives and works in Glasgow. She graduated from the Glasgow School of Art's influential Environmental Art department, which encouraged artists to place their work in a variety of public contexts outside the gallery space. Her socially engaged practice crosses both her public art work and her formal gallery based works, which has looked at physical experience, health and wellbeing, often in partnership with medical professionals. Donachie’s work in the healthcare realm has led her to collaborate on ground-breaking research with academics based in Glasgow and abroad. Her work with them has introduced new audiences and conversations to the pioneering research that is currently investigating genetically inherited disease.

In 2015 an exciting commission with GoMA, supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award, gave Donachie an opportunity to develop her practice and focus her reflections and research on illness, lived experience and loss. This culminated in a body of new work for the gallery; five of these pieces have now been secured for Glasgow’s collection.

Speaking about the project, artist Jacqueline Donachie said: “As someone who grew up visiting Glasgow’s museums for free, I am delighted that my own work will now be held by the city’s art collection. It was a pleasure to bring a substantial body of work together for my exhibition at GoMA last year, and I look forward to seeing these newly acquired pieces displayed within new locations and contexts in years to come.”

Glasgow Museums’ collection is widely recognised as one of the finest civic collections in Europe and the city has had a longstanding commitment to the purchase of fine art for the collection. Since 2002 GoMA has made a concerted effort to acquire works by artists living and working in Glasgow, to recognise the contribution they have made to the city’s reputation for visual art and also the global discourse of current art practice. The acquisition of Jacqueline Donachie’s capsule collection also enhances the gallery’s commitment to increasing the representation of women within the city’s collection.

Within the wider collection there are broader connections that enhance the city’s desire to hold research and show documentary media, in this case exploring illness, lived experience and the artist’s response to this. This strand of art, health and medical research relates to GoMA’s social justice programme, which has already made an important contribution to social change by providing a platform for exploring, discussing and challenging subjects connected to human rights.

Councillor Archie Graham, Chair of Glasgow Life, said: “As one of Scotland’s most interesting contemporary artists we are thrilled to acquire this collection of works for Glasgow. Importantly it recognises Jacqueline Donachie’s work alongside that of her peers from The Glasgow School of Art, artists like Christine Borland, David Shrigley and Douglas Gordon.

“GoMA’s aim is to build a world-class collection of contemporary visual art through the acquisition of important national and international works of art. The addition of these pieces are invaluable in both achieving that aim and enabling GoMA to further engage the public, through art, with a variety of challenging issues, including disability and loss. We would like to thank the National Fund for Acquisitions for their invaluable support in making this possible.”

Dr Hazel Williamson, National Fund for Acquisitions Manager, said: “We are delighted that funding from the National Fund for Acquisitions has helped to secure this significant body of work by Jacqueline Donachie for the collection at the Gallery of Modern Art. The acquisition provides a legacy of the GoMA commission and exhibition which marked an important stage in the development of Donachie’s artistic practice.”