DOROTHY CROSS

At the heart of the exhibition is an ambitiousnew sculptural commission titled Tread,in which human feet are hand-carved intotwelve blocks of different coloured marblesfrom locations around the world. Formed bydramatic shifts in heat and pressure, eachstone tells the material history of its geographicterrain through distinct surface textures andhues, from the pure white of Carrara Statuarioto deep Travertine Red or Chinese Green.Emerging from them like fossils, the carvedfeet appear as proof of existence, a trace leftafter the passing step of a human. Comingtogether as a group of twelve, a number withgreat significance as a marker of time, theyappear like a summoning from deep in thepast, a polyphonic history of the earth and areflection on the place of human beings withinthis vast chronicle.

Veins of Other also presents Cross’s newBloodlines series, unique works layeringphotographs from the artist’s personal archive

with hand-poured red veined glass. Taken byCross’s father, the antique photographs revealan inherited fascination with the sea, capturingthe Fastnet lighthouse from the deck of a boat,or the lightship once used to mark the positionof Daunt Rock. In one diptych, the artist’smother and father look outwards throughbinoculars and windows, their vistas obscuredby blood-red streaks of glass, swirling patternsthat recall the strata of rocks. A series ofmoments preserved in time, Bloodlines placesthe fragility of human life in contrast with thevast and enduring power of nature and time.

Working in sculpture, film and photography,Dorothy Cross examines the relationshipbetween living beings and the natural world.Living in Connemara, a rural area on Ireland’swest coast, the artist sees nature, the oceanand the body as sites of constant changeand flux. Her works harness this fluidity

and generative power, staging unexpectedencounters between plants, animals, bodyparts and everyday objects, resulting instrange, hybrid forms that range from thelyrical, sublime and meditative to the erotic,humorous and playful. Her sculptures mightincorporate classical materials such as Carraramarble, cast bronze or gold leaf alongsidediscarded antiques, old boats, washed-upjellyfish, whale bones or animal skins fromthe shore. Treating these materials with equalreverence, Cross honours the legacy of arthistory, but also the geological and ecologicalhistories that far predate it.

Press release courtesy Kerlin Gallery