Aoife Ruane looks at artist Niamh McGuinne’s work, on show at the Highlanes Gallery
In Niamh McGuinne’s first survey exhibition, a crusty metal exoskeleton provides a space in which transformation and healing can take place. The title, ‘Carapace’, suggests an organic structure or growth, a shelter whose purpose is to protect against aggression or attack until the time is right for the occupant to emerge. Since the formation of the shell is slow, painstaking, determinedly single-minded, the title also refers to the idea of healing through the act of making: the persistent, ritualistic process, the meticulous layering of strata over time.
McGuinne’s practice could be described as expanded print. She makes use of a combination of low-tech and analogue systems of production, including traditional and experimental methods of etching, screenprinting and transfer printing on a variety of materials, including film, paper, textile, Perspex and metal. Her work also incorporates sculptural elements, film and installation, the print aspects often combined in three-dimensional configurations, either as a method of display, to encourage interaction or in order to animate.
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