HIDDEN from VIEW
Nancy was commissioned to make an art installation for When Silence Falls, a collaborative project working in conjunction with the Waterford Memories Project http://www.waterfordmemories.com/ When Silence Falls investigates literary and bodily memory in St. Mary's Magdalene Laundry, Waterford. This site-specific, practice-based project was titled 'HIDDEN from VIEW' .
This art installation pays homage to the 62 known women who lived and died behind the walls of The Sisters of the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co. Wexford. Bars of fat melted by heated irons expose etched names. The layering of laundry materials acts as a metaphor exemplifying the daily routine of repetition endured by the Magdalene’s. It demonstrates how through a process of ritual the Magdalene performs her new identity. A life spent toiling and labouring hour after hour, this act of ritual enables control over an individual’s time and space. Ritual practices are the production of power relations and “act upon the actions of others” (Bell, 1992). Utilising mixed media, complex emotions and memories are triggered by a sensory cue evoking an emotive and thoughtful response from the viewer.
Smeared glass within a locked window frame reminiscent of steam and sweat paired with an empty, cold and uninviting fireplace reiterate a sense of ambiguous loss. This art installation offers an allegorical representation of the ritual which flooded the overall fabric of the Magdalene Laundry system.
This work was exhibited at WIT's College street campus as part of the multi-disciplinary Imagine Festival. When Silence Falls formed part of the 1916: Home: 2016 scheduled programme of nationwide events http://www.ucd.ie/humanities/research/irishmemorystudiesnetwork/1916home2016/
Nancy was commissioned to make an art installation for When Silence Falls, a collaborative project working in conjunction with the Waterford Memories Project http://www.waterfordmemories.com/ When Silence Falls investigates literary and bodily memory in St. Mary's Magdalene Laundry, Waterford. This site-specific, practice-based project was titled 'HIDDEN from VIEW' .
This art installation pays homage to the 62 known women who lived and died behind the walls of The Sisters of the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co. Wexford. Bars of fat melted by heated irons expose etched names. The layering of laundry materials acts as a metaphor exemplifying the daily routine of repetition endured by the Magdalene’s. It demonstrates how through a process of ritual the Magdalene performs her new identity. A life spent toiling and labouring hour after hour, this act of ritual enables control over an individual’s time and space. Ritual practices are the production of power relations and “act upon the actions of others” (Bell, 1992). Utilising mixed media, complex emotions and memories are triggered by a sensory cue evoking an emotive and thoughtful response from the viewer.
Smeared glass within a locked window frame reminiscent of steam and sweat paired with an empty, cold and uninviting fireplace reiterate a sense of ambiguous loss. This art installation offers an allegorical representation of the ritual which flooded the overall fabric of the Magdalene Laundry system.
This work was exhibited at WIT's College street campus as part of the multi-disciplinary Imagine Festival. When Silence Falls formed part of the 1916: Home: 2016 scheduled programme of nationwide events http://www.ucd.ie/humanities/research/irishmemorystudiesnetwork/1916home2016/
|
Copyright © 2014 by Nancy Rochford-Flynn
All rights reserved. This website or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist.
All rights reserved. This website or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist.