Cosmic Wetness, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
24 August – 01 October 2023
Cosmic Wetness features a new body of work by Karen Donnellan, who uses a wide variety of media in their practice; contrasting what can be referred to as high-value materials like blown glass with the everyday items like Jelly Tots and Mikado biscuits.
This exhibition evokes all of the senses – yet one must resist the urge to reach out and touch the suppleness of glass and marshmallow, the prickly surface of sugary sweets, or the stickiness of masking tape. A touch-map is available to those yearning to feel the materials at play. The visual languages of glass and mixed media unite to create an immersive experience for visitors to this exhibition.
Donnellan’s work is queer, feminist (intersectional), playful, sex-positive, tongue-in-cheek and pro-radical craft. Audre Lorde’s essay “Uses of The Erotic; The Erotic as Power” and “Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good” by adrienne maree brown are long-standing influences on their practice.
Donnellan’s work functions as a response to the kyriarchal attempt to separate bodies from spirit, sexuality from divinity, and distort sacred Truths. In feminist theory, kyriarchy is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission.
Donnellan asserts that much of the research and practices that are dismissed as "pseudo-science" are deeply connected to ancient and indigenous knowledge. Their work embraces healing technologies, free energy and accessible resources that cannot be patented. Universal geometry and mineral specimens, for example, are used as a way to embed subtle energy in the work and connect us to a theory of everything.
