290. DECONSTRUCTING THE NORTH V: DIRT AND ROOTS by MIRIAM DE BURCA

290 DECONSTRUCTING THE NORTH V BY MIRIAM DE BURCA
Drawn to the Real  exhibition at ALAN CRISTEA GALLERY

A group show of drawings until 19 July by Miriam de Búrca, Jane Dixon, Richard Forster, Marie Harnett & Emma Stibbon. 

Deconstructing the North V: Dirt & Roots 34.5 x 50.5cms

What you see on a small screen is a travesty of the beauty of  these drawings: delicate yet tough, anchored yet dancing; compact yet exuberant, crumbly but whole. The title places 'Dirt'. with all its nasty connotations. alongside 'Roots', without which nothing grows.
And  'Deconstructing the North'? The works engage with the artist's experience of her homeland Northern Ireland, with its persisting divisions, its layers and undercurrents. The land is 'quiet and peaceful and very beautiful, yet...is seeped in history. Inherited memories, bad ones for some, good ones for others, depending on which side of the division they stand'.

The plants she documents come from Crom and its rural surroundings, an old colonial estate in Co Fermanagh. The artist writes 'To this day (the estate) carries the legacy of colonial rule, in some ways far more subtly, in others more overtly than what exists on the streets of Belfast'. Her drawings 'accentuate the transformation of a place with a fractious history and the conscious effort it takes to recall and understand its past and present'.

Clover: Ink on paper, vellum paper & image 34.5 x 50.5cm

 Clover is  a three-leafed plant laden with legend and history. It's said to be used by St Patrick in Ireland in the fifth century as a theological teaching aid, a symbol of the doctrine of the Christian Trinity: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Bunches of shamrock are pinned to lapels on March 17th, St Patrick's Day, and to find a four-leaf clover at any time is said to bring good luck. 

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