Upcoming Graduate exhibition in NCAD

Graduation project: Gut feeling

My work is about the importance of the senses and of instinct. I have happened upon quite a few articles and books lately that deal with how unconscious and non-rational factors influence our thinking much more than we think; that when we think we are rational, gut feeling and instinct still play a large role in decision making.

The gut, or abdomen seem to be the center for so much of the feelings and experiences that move us deeply; hunger for food and pleasure stirs us there, happiness gives rise to fluttering in the stomach, fear and anxiety makes it clench and ache. It is the centre for so much of our non rational being, and also the site for the growth of future generations.

The abdomen is held and cradled by the pelvis and this is the reason I have chosen to use the bones of the pelvis as my starting point for a series of shallow vessels. These vessels are still developing but their main aim is to appeal to the senses, with rough and smooth textures, soft curves and pierced holes with thick and thin sections.

The shaping of the vessels happen in a searching, non-rational way, with a rough form slowly being refined into a form that seems right, but was not clear at the start of the work, often with a period in the middle where they seem like failures that should be rejected, before more work finally reveals a form that works, that has tension and grace.