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Lorg at the Ashford Gallery (RHA), Dublin 2002 |
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Artist’s Statement: As the EU was launching ‘Eurodac’, a computer system to coordinate the fingerprinting of all asylum seekers, I decided that fingerprints would be an interesting subject for a body of work. Reflecting on the various connotations of this practice, I began taking fingerprints from visitors to my studio in Temple Bar. Unlike the taking of fingerprints in a police station, this process was more pleasant as each person could choose which colours to use and they willingly participated in creating the source material for my art. It was fascinating (for the participants as well as for myself) to study the endless combinations of lines and to notice the particular differences on each person’s hands. As each set of fingerprints is unique, the practice aimed to celebrate the uniqueness of each person. However, to the casual observer, one set is indistinguishable from the next. One cannot recognise different nationalities, religions or skin colour in these prints. Rather than catalogue each set of prints separately, I decided to overlap and combine prints to allude to the interconnectedness of people. As my collection of prints expanded, I edited and cropped these marks to create ‘thumbnail sketches’ which would later be starting-off points for paintings, but I also put together simple presentations of anonymous fingerprints, to celebrate rather than categorise humanity. I called the main group of paintings: “Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine”, which is an old Irish proverb meaning: we depend on each other, or literally: the people live in each others’ shadows. “Lorg” means print, as in footprint or fingerprint but it also means to search. |
