Gráinne Coughlan examines the work of Bere Island artist Mary K Sullivan
Mary K Sullivan’s exhibition ‘From the Inside Out and the Outside In’ features work depicting island life through the media of sculpture, performance art (video) and photography. The artist explores intersecting histories and realities of island life, and she challenges romanticised perceptions of this existence as a remote retreat or an antidote to the ‘normal’ life of the so-called mainland. Once part-time residents and holidaymakers have retreated for the winter, the consequence of the relative scale and perceived remoteness of the islands often encourages their peripherality.
Complexities and contradictions are at the heart of her explorations and work against less-nuanced characterisations of the fragility or resilience of islands and islanders. Sullivan’s Glass Houses (Fig 4) represents the ebb and flow between these two states, which are materially manifested through the use of glass and metal. The piece documents the eighty-nine permanently occupied homes on Bere Island as hand-blown glass spheres that vary in size according to the occupancy of the household. The spheres are held together with steel cables, which give an illusion of fragility while signalling the strength in connection.
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