Peripheral Detachments
2022
dimensions variable
glass, wood, wood stain, paint, silk, thread, ink, tea, cochineal, onion, gorse, winter heliotrope, oak gall, iron, copper, tin, digitally printed silk.
Exhibited in With Other Matter, Roscommon Arts Centre, curated by Naomi Draper
Part stile, part clothes horse, Peripheral Detachments recalls the stark contrast between the rugged borders and manicured façades of suburbia as nature monopolised the stilled construction sites and sports grounds of city limits during Ireland’s Covid 19 lockdown. As though peeled from the boundaries of domestic incarceration and banned sites, silk scarves depict the lines of temporary site fencing, draping like golden threads, and a tangle of wildflowers cut from marble, polypropylene rope, and collapsed golden goalposts, scale a wooden trellis like a giant charm bracelet. A patchwork of naturally dyed silk mimics stone cladding, its colours gleaned from the artist’s kitchen, the plants which lined her 2km walks, and souvenirs brought from places which could not be travelled to.