Alice Maher
Familiar
On the occasion of her exhibition at the Orchard Gallery, Derry 25th Feb - 25th Mar 1995

The work of Alice Maher locates itself within the land of subversion and transformation; the menace of a child's dress bristling with unexpected bees, uncoiling tresses of fibrous hair, a regiment of turds encroaching upon two static feet. This is a place where mythologies are transmuted, shifting shape and meaning as they acquire concrete form; the flaxen hair of the fairytale heroine is turned into hair of flax. Instead of the goddess Venus rising resplendent from the sea an entire cohort of female heads emerges in the darkness and stillness.

This is work that draws upon memories of a rural childhood as much as mythology, but it is also informed by an engagement with the previous forms of representation found within art history.

The Orchard Gallery, 1994. Paperback, 25.5 x 27.6 x 0.3 cm. 32 pages. Illustrated throughout.

This catalogue is in good condition, marred only by a small nick on at the fore edge of the back wrap.