This In Conversation ‘Mapping the Magdalene’ by Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon at the Hugh Lane Gallery discusses The Map, the monumental textile sculpture created collaboratively by Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon
This In Conversation ‘Mapping the Magdalene’ by Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon at the Hugh Lane Gallery discusses The Map, the monumental textile sculpture created collaboratively by Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon and on view at the Hugh Lane Gallery 18-30 October 2022. The artists also discuss their collaboration with writer Sinéad Gleeson and composer Stephen Shannon whose immersive sound and text work We Are The Map is accompanying The Map at the Hugh Lane Gallery. 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. We Are The Map is an ekphrasis / intimate, immersive sound response by writer Sinéad Gleeson and composer Stephen Shannon. Gleeson was originally paired with Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon to write a text in response to The Map at Rua Red but from this, a new collaboration developed. It became an integral audio piece, moving from Gleeson’s original text into an immersive soundscape that accompanies The Map. Their incantatory sound quest is narrated by an ‘everywoman’ who moves around new terrain. The Map and We Are The Map were originally commissioned by Rua Red as part of the Magdalene Series, curated by Maolíosa Boyle and resonates strongly with themes explored by artists in the Hugh Lane Gallery’s exhibition Bones in the Attic curated by Victoria Evans. As part of the Hugh Lane Gallery’s diverse education programmes in tandem with Bones in the Attic, The Map created by artists Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon was displayed at the Hugh Lane Gallery along with We Are The Map by Sinéad Gleeson and Rachel Fallon from 18 October to 30 October 2022. This special project The Map @ Hugh Lane Gallery was curated by Jessica O’Donnell Head of Education and Community Outreach. www.hughlane.ie
