Roscommon Arts Centre

August 17 – September 17, 2013

 

LotusEater is the title of an ongoing collaboration between Aoibheann Greenan and a Dublin based band of the same name. The project explores various levels at which the work can be experienced and disseminated, it will take multiple forms; an immersive installation consisting of sculptural assemblages, props and costumes; a one-night music performance. The exhibition will evolve as works are added throughout its duration culminating in the LotusEater performing in the gallery space.

The Greek myth that surrounds the lotus-eater infuses the exhibition with the same sense of entering an exotic set or that in-between space that is often associated with altered states of consciousness. Odysseus returning from the Trojan War tells of North African people who lived in a state of blissful forgetfulness, drugged by the fruit of the legendary lotus. Greenan deliberately attempts to illustrate the experience of disorientation and dislocation through her sculptural assemblages. The pieces reference her recent travels to India and Reykjavik, Iceland exploring the hybridization of cultures. Myths and symbols are reconfigured creating a pastiche of tropes that we recognize but which become unfamiliar somewhat sinister in Greenan’s reinterpretation. The element of kitsch through her use of b-movie references and counter cultural motifs remind us that on reflection each viewer brings their own cultural baggage to the interpretation of the pieces. The sculptural constructions explore a biographical history, that is both self-reflexive and provide a broader means of critiquing society and the history of cultural accumulation.

There is a harmony between symbol, legend and visual impact that creates a visual lexicon that is both familiar and estranged.