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Clodagh Emoe: Sacred Mountain , polystyrene,
baking soda and glitter; courtesy Belltable Arts Centre |
This exhibition leads the viewer into a world of shifting perspectives. It is steeped in Eastern mysticism and philosophy. On entering the gallery space, one is confronted by a variety of media and material. It is a piece in six parts, each individual element being autonomous in its own right. A quote by an eastern spiritualist, Krishnamurti, "The Truth is a Pathless Land," is traced out on the wall as you enter, in tiny pebbles. It is a conundrum to puzzle you and a talisman to guide you as you make your own journey through the exhibition.
On the ground lies a white, waist-high, miniature mountain. At first glance, its glittering exterior appears solid and enduring. A closer inspection reveals a structure as permanent as a sandcastle. The polystyrene, baking soda and glitter confection is Sacred Mountain . It is the earthly abode of the Hindu god, Shiva, and metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. Its impermanence is strangely reassuring. All is definitely not as it seems in this strange pathless land.
High on the wall above, Transcendence plays on a large plasma screen. The scene revolves slowly around, through shafts of sunlight, rain clouds and up into the blue stratosphere. One is reminded of an eagle in flight, synonymous with mountains, surveying the ground below as it moves higher towards the heavens and freedom.
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Clodagh Emoe: Early evening Puja, triptych video piece displayed on miniature T.F.T. screens; courtesy Belltable Limerick
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Early Evening Puja is a triptych on miniature video screens. Flower sellers on the banks of the Ganges flank a scene which is, at first, hard to decipher. Gradually one begins to see that men and women moving around, dressed in brightly coloured saris and robes, are engaged in a religious ritual. They move around a tree, pouring water, making offerings and blessing themselves. Intermittently men chant prayers. Crows rook and call to one another, engaged in their own evening ritual, oblivious to the people below.
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Clodagh Emoe: Conversations with Joe , ping-pong ball with glitter;
courtesy Belltable Arts Centre |
These meditative sounds follow you as you enter Conversations with Joe , where the sense of contemplation increases. A black tent conceals a dwarf universe. Constellations of stars twinkle above, while just below a tiny ping-pong-ball earth spins eternally. It is a very comforting space; one can contemplate the stars, and our place within the wider universe.
Christmas Day 2001 completes the ensemble. A large photographic transfer, it is positioned on the wall behind the reception desk. It depicts sunset in India; a trail from an aeroplane jet streaks across the sky. It strikes a slightly incongruous note. The other pieces are all firmly placed within the context of Hindu ritual and journeys of enlightenment. In Christmas Day we find a more sentimental and nostalgic note.
Westerners have been travelling East in search of enlightenment for over 250 years. It exists in our imagination, a Utopia, coloured by our own perceptions and beliefs. Asians, in contrast, do not travel west in search of the Truth, but rather is search of a better standard of living. The Truth, it appears, depends on one's perspective. The Truth may be a pathless place, but the road to India is a well-worn track.
Barbara Dunne is an artist and a writer.
Clodagh Emoe: The Truth is a Pathless Land , Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, September/ October also at Sligo Art Gallery, February/March 2003
