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Tondo @ Pearse St Library          February 2010
Text Box: Back to “Tondo Exhibitions” Back to “Solo Exhibitions” STATEMENT I built a 10 ft tall Scarecrow for this exhibition, and also made a series of Scarecrow drawings on rice paper - see below In literature ‘the fool’ is generally a wild and unpredictable character who is unencumbered by normal conventions. He is frequently ridiculed and denounced but he plays a crucial role because he speaks the truth when others are in denial or are afraid. In his poem “The Fool”, Pádraig Pearse describes his vision of a future Ireland. He realises that the 1916 Rising will be a foolhardy attempt to overthrow a mightier adversary but he and his comrades are prepared to take a stand, believing that their action will bring hope to a downtrodden people. I became interested in Scarecrows as a metaphor because they often look foolish or scary, or even strangely heroic, but their appearance belies their serious function. Though the Scarecrows vary widely, they all seem to take on human characteristics as they stand out in the allotments to scare away the crows. City dwellers, who have begun again to grow their own vegetables, build these straw-filled constructions to watch over their crops and protect the food source… but their arrogant poses cannot hide the fact that their straw-filled limbs are ineffective in the face of adversity. But is it possible that there more to them than meets the eye?