Myra Hindley portrait, which caused a sensation in 1997, to go on show at Damien Hirst’s London gallery

Marcus Harvey, Myra,1995
Photographed by Prudence Cuming AssociatesLtd.
© Marcus Harvey
The Hirst family’s talents clearly have no bounds with the eldest son of Damien— Connor Hirst—now leaping into the limelight as curator of a new show at Newport Street Gallery in London. The exhibition Dominion (24 May-1 September) comprises works drawn from Damien Hirst’s own highly blue-chip collection with some big big names in the mix such as Banksy (Madonna and Child, 2003), Sarah Lucas (My Head, 2005), Richard Prince (Untitled, The Velvets, 2007) and Francis Bacon (Fury, 1944). The most surprising (and punchiest) inclusion though is Marcus Harvey’s hugely controversial piece Myra (1995). The portrait, now owned by Hirst, consists of hundreds of children’s handprints and is based on a police mug shot of Myra Hindley, who was imprisoned for life for the murder of five children in 1966. The piece was vandalised when it was initially shown in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1997. News of the work’s inclusion was leaked before the opening and once installed, Myra’s glowering presence caused an unprecedented public outcry (we wonder if eggs will be thrown at the headline-hitting picture this time round).

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