Do pilgrims only progress or do they travel backwards too? John Bunyan’s allegory of man’s forward movement towards Zion was taken up as a founding story of travelling to the New World: a religious justification for Europeans’ brutal occupation of America. Yet pilgrimage has since then gone the other way, becoming a search for an authentic self and homeland. Coachloads of white American tourists flock back to Europe in search of roots long since withered. These double meanings of pilgrimage, as locating and dislocating oneself, are mapped out in American artist Emma cc Cook’s new exhibition, inspired by the discovery of her Scottish roots and her ongoing exploration of national identity.  - Public 










































































Stress Tested 

Co-curated by Emma cc Cook
November 18 — December 18, 2021

Adam Alessi
Alexandre Canonico
Emma cc Cook
Katelyn Eichwald
André Magaña
Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack
Alex Jackson
Marlon Kroll
Kylie Manning
Jorge Satorre
Gerda Scheepers
Lewis Teague Wright

Violinists experience a phenomenon in which sweat from their fingers causes the strings of their instrument to uncoil and fragment. Perspiration is aggressive; cleaning cannot stop the breakdown as moisture enters the aluminium and begins the unwinding. The speed of corrosion is affected by the chemical makeup of the musician’s perspiration, and on how hard they grasp. The corrosion of the metal starts internally, like decay destroying a tooth from the inside out, set in motion the moment the string is first struck.
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Public Gallery is pleased to present Stress tested, a group exhibition that centres around the notion of pressure. Bringing together a range of media and approaches, the 12 artists featured in this presentation utilise primitive or restrained movement, firm or gentle force alongside honest, unwavering gestures. Their subject matter and medium are worked to the limit, and the unintended consequences of their undoing form new physicalities and dialogues.
Do pilgrims only progress or do they travel backwards too? John Bunyan’s allegory of man’s forward movement towards Zion was taken up as a founding story of travelling to the New World: a religious justification for Europeans’ brutal occupation of America. Yet pilgrimage has since then gone the other way, becoming a search for an authentic self and homeland. Coachloads of white American tourists flock back to Europe in search of roots long since withered. These double meanings of pilgrimage, as locating and dislocating oneself, are mapped out in American artist Emma cc Cook’s new exhibition, inspired by the discovery of her Scottish roots and her ongoing exploration of national identity.