Tóraigh na Tóraithe/
Hunt the Hunters
Exhibited at:
RHA Annual Exhibition 2024, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
Lughnasadh 2023, St. Peter’s Church, Cork
Roundy 2023, Roundy Bar, Castle Street, Cork
Appose 2022, St. Peter’s Church, Cork
Materials:
Toned cyanotype
India ink
Hemp fibres
Copper leaf
on Arches 300gsm
Notes:
The copper is raw and untreated, meaning it will oxidise to blue, green and black tones over time
Animals:
Iolar Órga 🦅 (golden eagle)
Sionnach 🦊 (fox)
Gráinneog 🦔 (hedgehog)
Broc 🐼 (that’s a badger)
Fia Rua 🦌 (red deer)
Iora Rua 🐿️ (red squirrel)
Giorria 🐰 (hare)
Gabhar 🐐 (goat, old Irish)
Bradán 🐟 (salmon)
fig 1., 2 & 3
2022
30 x 90cm (triptych)
Toned cyanotype, gold leaf, encaustic medium on Arches 300gsm
A visual study of the reconstructive process of sculptor Eoghan Daltun on Canova’s Belvedere Torso sculpture at the Crawford Art Gallery, with reference to biblical literature and the use of the fig leaf in 19th century Vatican-directed censorship.
fig 1. (observation)
Said to be the fruit that tempted Eve and even cursed by Jesus himself, the fig has had a rough time from the Church.
Perhaps it’s its nature, simultaneously fruit and flower, male and female, inverted, fertilised only by the rarest of wasps who make the ultimate blood sacrifice for their offspring, has something to do with its vilification.
fig 2. (revelation)
In the prudish 1850s, around the same time as abortion was being vilified by institutions of power, Pope Pius IX took it upon himself to castrate thousands of statues, covering their nakedness with a fig leaf.
Many of these works have been mutilated beyond repair.
Some are undergoing careful reconstruction.
fig 3. (resoration)
One such patient is the Belvedere Torso, one of the collection of the Canova Vasts, a set of casts made by Canova of the Vatican collection of sculptures - now used by centuries of study by Cork artists at the Crawford Art Gallery.
Sulptor Eoghan Daltun has lovingly resorted the Belvedere Torso.
Fig 1. - 3. is a play on words, referencing the categorisation of our realm in a style popular since Victorian times. They also follow Daltun’s journey from observation to revelation to restoration.
Léirsceáil
(leːrʲsˠkʲeːlʲ)
Montserrat, West Cork. 2022
20 x 30cm
Toned cyanotype, India ink, encaustic medium on Arches 300gsm & OSB
Experimenting with digital manipulation and ancient photographic printmaking, this work was created following explorations in the intersection of colonial cartography, digital archiving and collective memory.
Exhibited at:
Places in Motion, 2023-2024. Group exhibition, Uillinn/West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen
Roundy, 2023. Solo exhibition, The Roundy Bar, Castle Street, Cork
Púca, 2023
20 x 30cm
Digital collage printed on Arches 300gsm using toned cyanotypes and polaroid photographs.
Publius
2023
30 x 50cm
Found object collage & toned cyanotype printmaking
A reimagined crest of the City of Cork, crafted from discarded materials collected during explorations of the city and the banks of the River Lee.
Created for Imbolg
is the observation and interpretation of ecosystems while actively rejecting the colonial structuring and presumptions of heteronormativity that have marked the European study of ecology over the past few centuries.
Queer Ecology
Judgement
Invoking precolonial and exocolonial narratives to illustrate reflections on the symbolism of confrontation.
Materials:
Toned cyanotype, copper foil & hemp fibres on Arches 300gsm.
Wooden shadowbox frames and “Blackest Black” coated mounting.
Exhibited at:
Ab 2024, St. Peter’s Church, Cork
STAMP Festival 2024, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork