ACREA Banners & Procession 2017-2019
Eye Bannerettes
photo by Alison Laredo
This is the series of Bannerettes I made for the Artists Campaign to Repeal The Eighth Amendment in 2017. Here they are carried by Alice Maher, Rachel Fallon, Breda Mayock and Lisa Godson.
Bannerettes artists statement:
The Eye Bannerettes were made in Áine Phillips’s Studio in Ennis, County Clare and Ger Sweeney’s Studio in Westport, County Mayo 2017
A series of 6 Eye Bannerettes by Áine Phillips are double sided small pennant banners carried by one person on a single pole. Each Bannerette features a central motif of the all seeing eye on one side, the other side incorporates one of the letters spelling R-E-P-E-A-L when the Bannerettes are placed along side each other. The design of each letter includes further eye motifs. The images and letters are appliquéd and sewn using contemporary brightly coloured and patterned fabrics. The fabrics include satin, dress and curtain lining, polyester, cotton, gold lamé, linen and rayon. Each Bannerette has the initials ÁP embroidered on the lower right hand side.
Áine Phillips developed the series of eye images to reference archetypal figures such as the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, power and health, also the Buddhist Eye of the World, the Third Eye and the All Seeing Eye. Other eye emblems that signify judgement and authority, omniscience and the gateway to the soul are explored in the Bannerettes. The eye imagery was intended to make a strong visual statement regarding the visibility of women and how we observe the power and controlling force of state and church in Ireland over reproductive choice. We are looking back at and watching our political representatives in this campaign.