Capsule for destinies unknown

By Eilis O'Connell
Size:
200 × 1350cm
Medium:
Galvanised steel, stainless steel, polycarbonate sheeting
Date:
2017
Edition size:
Unique

"Given the current political climate in Europe and the issue of Brexit, I thought it important to make sculpture that would be relevant to the idea of shelter and refuge that the theme of the exhibition suggests (ARK 2017).

Being safe today is almost a question of geography, politics, and the randomness of where you happen to be born, or where you happen to be at a certain time of day. For some, though, the terms of existence result in a forced migration, the most horrific being the boats crossing the Libyan Sea and the desperate situations people find themselves in.

These stories haunt me and that feeling of being unable to help has filtered into my work, so the focus of this sculpture is the need for physical refuge. Often I make inviting hollowed-out spaces as part of a sculpture but this one is very different; it's not that inviting, being made of corrugated galvanised steel and polycarbonate sheeting. These are humble everyday materials, often used to make temporary living spaces.

From a distance the sculpture looks like a missile or warhead, objects manufactured for the industry of war. Britain is the second biggest arms dealer in the world, selling weapons to repressive regimes in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, corporate profitable production that leads to the destruction of our fellow human beings."

Eilis O'Connell 2017

Capsule for destinies unknown