C102
review
Limerick:
Clodagh Emoe at Belltable
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Clodagh Emoe: Sacred Mountain, polystyrene,
baking soda and glitter; courtesy Belltable Arts Centre
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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
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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
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