Rita Duffy

I have chosen to include this installation as i think it is just stunning and very profound. It is called veil by Rita Duffy and is situated in Wolverhampton Art Gallery.The artist was inspired to produce the piece after visiting an abandoned women's prison and the structure is made up of six real prison doors; slots, eye holes and all.

It is through these holes that you are allowed to travel into a different world. As in the centre of the structure hang what seems like hundreds of long, delicate, glass droplets against a blood red background. It is contrasting that such a thing of beauty could be representational of something so sad, so deep.







The piece is in ' The Northern Ireland Fresh Perspectives' collection and the glass droplets are a metaphor for lives of the women in Northern Ireland and how they have been shaped by political turmoil. There is even salt around the base of the installation that represents the tears that have been shed in the violence, whether it be for their husbands...brothers... etc. They are bitter and many.


I really appreciated this piece and I believe it is because I understood and have empathy for the context in which it was created. I like the way it has beauty and skill as well as meaning. This is definitely an ideal example of something that is aesthetically pleasing. In my eyes it fits the quota for all of Crawfords (1989) 5 clusters of Aesthetics which are The art object, appreciation and interpretation, critical evaluation, artistic creation and cultural context. In his theory in order to fully understand the aesthetics of a piece of work you need to understand all of these concepts regarding a piece.

Reference
Crawford, D in Smith R and Simpson A (1991) Aesthetics and Arts Education. University of Illinois Press.