The primary human need for communication, the impact of breast loss on the sense of femininity and the ubiquity of biometrics in our modern life.
These are just some of the topics explored by this year’s cohort of Crawford College of Arts and Design MTU alumni.
Margaret Varian’s work deals with the physiological and physical effects of breast loss on a sense of femininity. The work of the Balifehan native used her own body as a tool to study the physical consequences of mastectomy.
“I first got cancer almost 13 years ago,” she says. “In 2009, I had my first mastectomy.”
“Although breast cancer has caused the loss of my breasts, my work is not about cancer but about the importance of breasts and the psychological and physiological consequences that their loss has on a woman.
“Breasts are the most obvious identifier of your gender. You don’t understand what effect they have until you lose one or both. ”
Varian, who has cancer in the fourth stage and completed her studies during treatment, says that breast loss can make you doubt “your femininity, your sexual identity.”
“It can make you feel smaller.”
The 59-year-old woman, who lost her right arm in the midst of her studies, says millions of women have suffered from breast loss or reconstruction and she hopes her work will resonate widely.
“Breast cancer affects everyone. And this is a topic that – I will not say that it is taboo, but it is not a topic that is explored in art. But millions of women suffer from it. It has to be there. ”
Varian, who first began studying at an art college in 1980 but dropped out after founding because “life got in the way,” said returning to college in her 50s had become a dream come true.
“I used to go to the gates of college and thought how lucky I was at this stage of my life to be able to make a dream come true and get a qualification in what I really love.
“You suddenly realize that the work you’ve been doing all along has meant nothing compared to what it feels like to be allowed to immerse yourself in something that you fully and utterly love.”
https://www.instagram.com/margaret.varian/
Aoife Nolan, who grew up in Navana but has lived in Cork for 30 years, explores in her work the primary need of man for connection and belonging.
“Life is so stressful and stressful for many of us,” she says. “We have so many external stressors – deadlines, finances, family commitments – it’s easy to lose our sense of self, our connection to ourselves.”
“It’s [can seem] a very bourgeois, indulgent luxury to stay in touch with oneself – but it is essential. ”
Nolan, who has experience in fashion, costume and wedding design, appreciates the sense of connection we have with planet Earth, which she represents as our collective “mother” in her art.
“Our society and our culture are built to view our planet as a resource with a bottomless pit of materials that we can rob. In my work I consider the Earth as our mother. We depend on the existing ecosystem to meet our most basic needs. In terms of culture, instead of remembering this, we see the Earth as a commodity, not our home. ”
Nolan sought to use all-natural materials where possible to create her work, even using collected rainwater to clean brushes.
“All the work started from the outside,” she says.
In other works she used copper because it is present in both soil and human tissues.
“So it connects man to Mother Earth. I ate copper with vinegar, salt and iodine to make green ink, and I used copper sheet. Ink is human fabric, and copper sheet is soil.”
In recent weeks, Nolan has been inundated with offers of residency, and she says she is “overwhelmed” with support.
“The reaction to the opening was amazing,” she says. “There was one woman who came to see [my exhibition] and she was very moved and said that it made her think of her relationship with her own mother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and she could see the emptiness in the center of the work as a lost memory of her mother and the circles around as the way she is surrounded by love for her family.
“I hope that my work connects people,” she says, “and that it lifts the spirits, motivates or comforts others.”
https://www.instagram.com/aoife_nolan_
Przemysl Richter’s work focuses on biometrics, the measurement and statistical analysis of people’s unique physical and behavioral characteristics. Biometric authentication is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify persons under surveillance.
Richter, who has been primarily involved in painting and drawing for a four-year art degree, says his last-year project emerged thanks to a fascination with the positive and negative aspects of modern technology.
“Everyone has a unique code that cannot be replaced or copied, which has become the key to modern technology,” he explains.
“I find it interesting that our bodies have these little microscopic patterns that we can’t control,” he says, adding that the “madness” is that the use of biometric technology has become so prevalent in our lives that we don’t. . don’t even “admit” it anymore. It’s just a part of our lives. ”
The 24-year-old says his work – which uses metal iris sculptures and close-up videos – is designed to draw our attention to these microscopic specimens.
A native of Poland, Richter has been in Kechel, Co Tipperary for the past 14 years – and says he chose MTU Crawford College of Art and Design because he wanted to live in Cork.
“It was between Limerick and Cork. But I just want to stay in Cork for a while,” he laughs.
He plans to stay put and continue experimenting with sculpture and video.
https://www.instagram.com/shamr0ock
- Crawford College of Arts and Design Alumni Exhibitions 2022 will be held on the Bishopstown Campus (Creative Digital Media + Visual Communications) and on the Sharman Crawford Street Campus (Contemporary Applied Arts + Fine Arts) until June 9.
