Review C109
Temporary installations by nature somewhat ephemeral aren't usually monuments which imply permanence and finality. There have of course been exhibitions based upon and tributes to certain individuals and events but when attending these the overriding feeling is still that of being at an exhibition.
On entering the Context Gallery it is clear that something unusual has occurred. Mary T. O'Neill has transformed the gallery, at least temporarily into a monument for those she encountered in Romanian hospitals and institutions. The entire gallery is painted black, one light in the main space shining forlornly on a raised surface (also black) covered with candles and hundreds of spiky drawings of faces full of trapped and nervous energy.
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| Mary T. O'Neill: Ward 10, bed 32 , installation shot; courtesy Context Gallery |
It is impossible to commit all of these drawings to memory, as there are far too many. They blend into each other, emphasising that individual histories are submerged in the overall horror, becoming merely statistics. Terms like 'holocaust', 'nine-eleven' and, closer to home 'the Troubles' have packaged individual suffering into neat, manageable, understandable and ultimately sellable concepts.
It is apparent from the pages of O'Neill's diary, pinned to the wall, that the artist wishes to impress upon the visitor the inhumanity of what is occurring in Romania. Unfortunately her mode of expression somewhat undermines this. Instead of creating a sensation of unease, the predominant feeling is one of peace, albeit the melancholy peacefulness that is experienced in graveyards and gardens of remembrance. Even the audio of a little girl reciting paeans to Nikolai Ceausescu, presumably intended to add to the sense of unease of the installation, only serves to accentuate the sense of serenity. The artist's 'emotional response' to her experiences in Romania was an attempt to pass the impact of that experience on to us. Though successful in making us aware of the dire situation in Romania, the emotions she felt do not come through in the installation. Our emotional response is one of tranquil contemplation, evidently not what the artist intended. O'Neill has created a beautifully serene area of remembrance and not a harrowing representation of anguish. This failure in representation is shared even by famous works like Picasso's Guernica , which cannot adequately do justice to the events which inspire them and are as such merely visual protests. However, this is not a negative thing and it is necessary that works such as O'Neill's be made.
Greg McCartney is a writer and curator resident in Derry.
Mary T. O'Neill: Ward 10, Bed 32. Romania: an emotional response , Context Gallery, Derry, April 2004
