Body of Empathy
On the Flipside
The Darkroom, 32 North Brunswick Street, Stoneybatter
19 – 27 July 2018
An exhibition of three artists; Wendy Judge, Niamh McGuinne and Mella Travers, all of whom use photography as part of their practice but come from three very distinctive creative backgrounds. The Flipside explores the non-traditional use of photography through chemical and digital interventions.
Wendy Judge; Refabricationland II. Sculptural and photographic compositions.
Niamh McGuinne; Accelerated Ageing. Drawings on recycled x-ray negatives and selectively exposed to pollutant gasses in a temperature controlled humidity chamber.
Mella Travers; Duality; Experimental film development using chemicals stripping agents and re-developing techniques.
Wilgefortis
2017
This work is focused on representations of hairy women, monsters and beasts and the perceived interchange between these states.
In the 14th century a religious cult surrounding the veneration of female bearded saints surfaced in Europe. The main protagonist was known as St. Wilgefortis of Portugal and her legend recounts how her father promised her in marriage to a pagan. To avoid the marriage, she prayed that she would become ugly and miraculously grew a beard. Refusal to eat as a form of protest is one of the few controls one has over one’s body. The body, consequently, stimulates the growth of lanugo or downy hair as it attempts to protect itself from deprivation. The miracle of St. Wilgefortis might be explained by this phenomenon and in 1969 her status of saint-hood was revoked.
Wilgefortis
Wilgefortis installation
Bristle: Hair and Hegemony, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, 8 July – 23 September 2017
Mixed media prints in a metal mobile frame
205 x 126 x 100cm
Edition of 6
2017
Wilgefortis
Hirsute
Hirsute
Etching and aquatint on paper
50cm x 30cm
2011
The portrayal of hair is a fascinating theme; it is an interesting connector between the inner and outer selves; it has been used as symbol of attractiveness and desire. In fairytales, hair can assume a life of its own, continuing to grow after death, symbolising health, vitality and sexuality. It can also serve as a warning that all is not as it seems as in Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves from The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. Here she recreates the traditional tale of Red Riding Hood but in her reinterpretation, the young girl on the brink of puberty is not a victim of the wily wolf but a willing partner and capable of looking after herself and the life she chooses. She knows that ‘the worst wolves are hairy on the inside’, and she shivers; however, she does not shiver because of fear but because of ‘the blood she must spill’.
In Hirsute, the figure’s exposed hairy pelt references her relationship to the wolf, while alluding to her own sexuality. The scissors, which in the fairytale are used to cut open the wolf to release the grandmother, is on hand as she is coming out of her shell, and her lineage as part of the animal world is evident in the brooch she wears.
This print is part of a series of prints entitled Moon Phase, a theme that I periodically add to as the theme evolves. It includes Moonlit Roof (2010), The Somnambulist (2014) and Noli Me Tangere (2015).
Bristle Exhibition Guide, Orla Fitzpatrick
Bristle reviews
Wilgefortis 1 and Self Perspectives 15 at Impressions Biennial, Galway
Wilgefortis 2 at the RHA Annual Exhibition
