Reliquiae - Gillian Robinson - All That Remains
Gillian Robinson’s installation, ‘All That Remains’, is a series of over fifty books, inspired by the texture and surface qualities of ancient icons found in Monasteries in Cyprus. They carry an atmosphere of survival of endurance and hope.
Some of the books have sculptural qualities, some are bound and tied with their contents locked away, whilst others can be handled and explored. They have a beautiful physicality - they smell of ash, wax or resin. Pages ask to be turned, and their surfaces cracked open, revealing juxtapositions, glimpsed fragments. Somehow the form of the books is at one with the content. Books have a powerful symbolism, communicating ideas, knowledge, wisdom, history, experience. ‘All That Remains’ seems to capture that sense of power, combined with great vulnerability.
1 comment:
I've just been to Drumcroon for the first time, a fact that I'm not proud of but will try hard to amend. I came as a helper with a school party of 40-odd 6 year olds.
Personally, I was especially amazed by Gillian's work; the sense of discovery when you find something unexpected, the feeling that you are glimpsing a different world, someone else's existence.
I loved the decay; the idea that exhibits change over time; and the concept that some of the exhibits contain items of interest that no-one will see, as they are locked inside the book or the pages, sealed by wax, metal or wire.
I went to Drumcroon with a fairly open mind, but I will be back sometime to see more of this. Promise.
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