'Seeing a Who' by Michael Mulvihill and Elizabeth Saveri

Seeing a who brings together Gateshead based Michael Mulvihill and Pasadena, USA based Elizabeth Saveri, two artists who both explore big themes through the medium of miniature paintings and drawings.   The exhibition derives its title from the classic childrens book, Horton Hears a Who!, written in 1954 by Theodore Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr Seuss, which describes the eponymous hero Hortons struggle to prove against all doubters the existence of another world as small as a speck of dust, and his battle to save it from destruction. The books main theme, a persons a person no matter how small, was Geisels reaction to his post-war visit to Japan, where putting individual freedom before duty to the state was a new concept. Geisel, who had harboured strong anti-Japan sentiments before and during World War Two, changed his views dramatically after the visit and used his book as an allegory for the American post-war occupation of the country. He dedicated the book to a Japanese friend.