23 January, 2024

Against the Grain is a new digital project by Ruth Ewan commissioned by Newcastle University and National Trust working in partnership with the Bewick Society The project brings together an audio essay, sleeve notes with timeline, downloadable poster and song which explore the friendship between two radical thinkers and artists, Thomas Bewick and Thomas Spence who met in 18th century Newcastle. It invites listeners to see Bewick as a political animal and discover the obscured figure of Spence, an essential and provocative voice from the past.