Cut, sawn and screwed together; utilizing a bricolage approach in the construction of assemblages which become domestic tropes that act as metaphors for trauma. Cleary creates mini environments that suggest innocence in theme. The work at first glance appears to hold a pleasant aura but on closer inspection it alludes to disturbing undertones. The artist does not want to dictate an absolute narrative within her work; it is open to interpretation.
Themes addressed surround the area of domestic exploitation, explored from a psychological perspective. The aim is to lend a tangible voice to past intangible events; the resultant pieces endeavour to act as vehicles for the hidden discourse that evolves behind closed doors.
Diegesis is commonly defined in film and literature as the recounting of a story, it is the environment where those narrated themes are played out. Cleary’s practice employs this theory in the creation of work that challenges the viewer’s perception by alluding to the untold stories hidden within the domestic space.
Her pieces become hybrid objects through their mish mash of domestic memoirs that transcend into the surrounding space. Their painted surfaces are unfinished; exposed; interrupted and allude to a hypocrisy hidden beneath a falsehood of perfection.
Homeless, mixed media (wood, upturned trolley, cellophane, skirting, broken chair, canvas), 2017
Rural Shame,mixed media (animal skull, analogue tape, phone, broken CD player, computer shell, wiring, clothes rail), 2017
Father paused to turn and look at me, mixed media (empty drawer, salvaged
tiles, text, paint, frames, bike chain, cogs, tie hanger, measuring tape, doorstop), 2017
Father paused to turn and look at me (Detail)
Forgotten child, mixed media (Fabric, pink paint), 2017
Mother Stood with Her Back to Me, (Details) painted lamp with cellophane and painted Mary with holy
water, 2017
You have been Given a Second Chance, mixed media (Mop, paint, cement base), 2017
Mother and Baby, mixed media, 2017; detail
Dichotomy, mixed media, 2017.
Lorraine Cleary is a part time tutor in academic English with the Learning Support Unit in Limerick School of Art & Design. A multidisciplinary artist working in the medium of sculpture, photography, experimental film, video, sound and performance. She received a First Class Honours Masters Degree in Interactive Media from the University of Limerick in 2015 and she graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art & Design in 2014. She was highly commended for the 2014 programme of the Undergraduate Awards in the Visual Arts category for her work entitled ‘Mise en Scene’ and was also highly
commended for the 2014 programme of the Undergraduate Awards in the Media & the Arts category for her paper entitled ‘A Study of Diegesis and Mimesis in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) – with reference to Time and the Frame’. She was one of thirteen artists chosen to participate at the inaugural international online
exhibition of ‘Aligned’ as part of the Undergraduate Awards. Recent group exhibitions include 'The Model presents Cairde Visual 2017' The Mall, Sligo and the ‘Winter Open Exhibition 2017’ at Rua Red Gallery, Tallaght, Dublin.