In Bird in Hand (painting), how is the Insight about the work discussed?
According to Gallagher, the bird that the figure is holding has "just been caught" and that the name of the painting comes from the feeling experienced by when a person holds a bird too tight in their hand. Tate Modern's Alice Sanger interpreted the painting as being representative of the Atlantic slave trade that stemmed from Cape Verde, where Gallagher's father is from. The use of salt in the painting represents the salt mining that was a major industry in the region. Sanger also suggests that the painting represents a slave turned pirate.
Tate Modern Cape Verde Atlantic slave trade pirate