Laura Ní Fhlaibhín
wishes for a wet warm afterlife by the blue willow pleasure pool
Safe travels, good luck 2022 Bronze hooks, cast from airway respirator, embroidered bags with lubricant residue, horse hair
23rd June - 30th August 2022
wishes for a wet warm afterlife by the blue willow pleasure pool
is Laura Ní Fhlaibhín’s first solo exhibition with Green On Red Gallery. Sifting stories, materials and traces associated with memory, myth and the casting of spells, Laura Ní Fhlaibhín creates complex but pithy material scenarios. These may incorporate condensed sculptural images, plants, sound, texts and formal gatherings of elements that also serve as ritual artefacts. Her work blends myth, personal recollection and oral histories. It frequently implies the key category of care – of both self and others, humans and animals, objects and materials. Rituals of mourning and remembering are manifested, in a spirit of lively, playful animacy.
This exhibition wills and wishes for a wet, warm, orgiastic, lubricated afterlife, for those we hold dear. Sculptural assemblages in stainless steel hold elements in a system of lubrication and remembrance, cast in bronze and beeswax. New willow shoots are growing in a bucket, from Laura’s grandmother’s willow tree. A triptych of drawings depict a voyage: sailing through phosphorescent realms, propelled by a furry caterpillar ship and leopard slugs, to arrive at blue warming pools on willow shores. In these oily waters, sisters swim forever, tittilating the other’s nipples, sucking and sliding and giggling, shaded by drooping curved hills.
Ní Fhlaibhín's work is currently featured in the exhibition Materials for Virtue/Incandescent flare at the Britta Rettberg Gallery, Munich.
wishes for a wet warm afterlife by the blue willow pleasure pool will be running from 23rd June - 30th August 2022 at Green On Red Gallery during normal gallery hours (10:00 - 18:00, Monday - Friday).
Photos taken by Fionn McCann
wet afterlife wishes and hopes and love for you 2022 Stainless steel bronze spear, bronze amulet, cast from great aunt Bridie’s gift, grandmother Rita’s willow jug
wet wishes 2022 Threaded horse hair (gifted from Brixton Equestrian Centre spring trims), lubricant balm, engraved aluminium tins, bronze hooks (cast from airway respirator)
