Clodagh Emoe,Cult of Engagement,Project Arts Centre,18 December – 30 January,2010
A low humming sound beckons me toward a black curtain with a gaping hole torn in its centre. I step around its ragged fabric into a darkened room where a dimly lit sculpture stands against the back wall, casting long shadows. Four black flags are set into a circular platform etched with lines and symbols resembling pagan motifs. The works in Clodagh Emoe’s exhibition Cult of Engagement produce an intense atmosphere, one evocative of ritual and magic.
Clodagh Emoe, Cult of Engagement, 2009, exhibition view, image courtesy Project Arts Centre.
Opposite to the sculpture, a wall-length projection shows a recognisably Irish landscape at dusk – a grassy verge in the foreground bordered by a row of trees. In the opening section, lights appear in the background to create a flickering rhythm, back and forth. These lights emerge to be lamps, carried by a dozen people who pass from the woods down onto the grass and approach the camera, in unison, wearing red hooded shawls over black clothes. Their faces are obscured by white masks with hooked noses, ridding them of any identifying features. Here they stop and look at us through blank, unyielding faces.
Clodagh Emoe, Parados, 2009, exhibition view of film, image courtesy Project Arts Centre.