Siomha Harrington Irish, b. 1997
Valley of the Sure, 2024
oil on canvas
60 x 80 cm
Further images
As evident in ‘Valley of the Sure’ (2024), Harrington frequently returns to theatrical imagery and stage makeup as a visual reference to the performativity of femininity. The motif of masquerade...
As evident in ‘Valley of the Sure’ (2024), Harrington frequently returns to theatrical imagery and stage makeup as a visual reference to the performativity of femininity. The motif of masquerade - a false show or pretense - runs through her work, with painted furrowed brows and rouged cheeks allowing a single face to hold multiple expressions, creating false signals. By framing femininity as a performance, often set on a stage or pointing towards an implied audience, Harrington evokes ideas of spectacle, the viewer’s gaze, and the male gaze. This sense of performance extends to her compositions, where she explores synchronicity and doppelgängers, using repeated figures to examine conformity and the uncanny. Arranged in formations reminiscent of soldiers, these figures stand in line, their uniform-like attire and painted faces reinforcing a sense of imposed structure, only the eyes looking out at the viewer seem to question the façade of conformity. This eerie homogeneity blurs individual identity, unsettling the boundaries between selfhood and representation.