Marianne O’Kane Boal visits Cathy Wilkes’ exhibition in Sligo and finds that the artist’s Belfast childhood at the height of the Troubles informs her practice
Cathy Wilkes grew up in a working-class area of East Belfast and moved to Glasgow aged nineteen in 1985. There is an implicit mystery within her work, a sense that she is asking us to question the artworks’ meanings, and ourselves. Wilkes’ works are predominantly untitled, leaving the viewer with reduced scaffolding for navigation. This widens the scope of the work beyond the personal to create a broader field of reference.
The artist’s current exhibition at The Model in Sligo is arranged across four galleries and consists of fifteen pieces, three of which are installations. It is a pared-back, silent and elemental space, where natural light predominates. In the larger galleries, the artist uses timber screens to create a domestic scale, which allows for the sense of an unfolding narrative.
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