National Gallery exhibition explores trauma through vandalised paintings

Ali Cherri's If you prick us, do we not bleed? looks at people's emotional responses to art

An exhibition inspired by the vandalism of five paintings while they were being displayed has opened at the National Gallery, in an attempt to explore how trauma can manifest itself in people's response to museum and gallery collections.

If you prick us, do we not bleed? has been put together by the gallery's artist in residence, Ali Cherri, appointed in 2021, who uncovered accounts of National Gallery paintings being vandalised while on display as he researched its archives.