
Contact
Jessica O'Donnell
e: jodonnell.hughlane@dublincity.ie
t: +353 1 222 5558
Coffee Conversation
Wednesday 19 October, 11am
The Magdalene Series: The Map with Maolíosa Boyle, Director, Rua Red
As part of the Gallery’s education programme in tandem with Bones in the Attic, The Map, a monumental textile sculpture created by artists Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon will be borrowed from Rua Red and installed in gallery 17 from 18 October to 30 October 2022.
With its own continents, winds, currents, and constellations, The Map draws the viewer in, inviting a reorientation. Its richly worked surface is an epic Mappa Mundi where the structures and languages of cartography are used to imagine and re-imagine the life, legacy, and mythology of Mary Magdalene and her impact on women’s lives. An alternative topographic and psychic landscape is uncovered in this witty, complex un-picking of the established narrative of Mary Magdalene.
The Map was originally commissioned by Rua Red as part of the Magdalene Series, curated by Maolíosa Boyle and resonates strongly with themes explored by artists in Bones in the Attic.The Magdalene series at Rua Red features the work of five of Ireland’s leading artists Amanda Coogan, Jesse Jones, Grace Dyas, Alice Maher, and Rachel Fallon. They were commissioned by Rua Red in 2018 to create work in response to the history and legacy of Mary Magdalene and her association with the incarceration and institutionalisation of women, and to propose a new world uncurbed by religion, political, or societal doctrine. It is a world viewed through the lens of contemporary feminism and feminist theology.