Veils

A workshop was held in conjunction with the exhibition “Veils”, which is about accidental deaths of civilians in the troubles of Northern Ireland. This workshop was a discussion of the problem of violence in the community. An attempt to affirm the value of life by questioning the continuing cycle of violence which we see every day in the world around us. I have used the troubles in Northern Ireland as my example. This has led me to search for ways to confront these issues in a non-aggressive manner. Using translucent light light-grey organza, I have made twenty-five veils. Each describes the death of a civilian who has been killed by error in the Northern Irish conflict. Each story is printed onto a veil which also has a piece of clothing quilted into it. By doing this I feel these people have been reclaimed from the cold forgetfulness of numbers, of statistics, and we gain a heightened awareness of our own vulnerability.