“In ‘Members Only’ Cherry takes the tradition of Dublin’s private gentlemen’s clubs to explore ideas relating to family, gender, history, identity and exclusion - for a hallmark of the clubs was their consistent exclusion of women. In a series of elaborate portrait images, using herself as a model, Cherry offers a radically revised version of a personal family history as exemplified in a gallery of formal portraits. Her imaginative approach to the conventions of portraiture and the codes of visual representation allow her room to develop some fascinating critical insights” Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times
Members only……………….
This work explores the concepts of exclusion, gender and family. Based on the private Gentlemen’s Club institution in Dublin, the work is intended to be a light-hearted reflection of a family tradition combined with a serious investigation into an institution, which has throughout history excluded women. Referencing ideologies of gender, time, exclusion, money and power, this work is an exploration of the exclusion of women using presence to challenge absence. The work is a reflection of the artist’s own personal experience and using herself as model she explores her own identity through the re-conceptualisation of her family history using photographic images.
Entry to the Clubs for the purpose of the photographic exploration was refused. This initial setback created an interesting challenge and set the tone of the project. The result is a series combining three different image styles. 1) Images of the clubs stolen at night from the outside creating a real feeling of fear, exclusion and desire to enter; 2) Constructed interior images in similar settings to create a notion of what can be expected; 3) Constructed family portraits, juxtaposing the medium of the modern photographic image with the historical oil portrait, traditional to such a club setting.
Lighting is integral to the concept of the Members Only series; both at the point of exposure as well as in the final display of the finished image. In both the exterior images and the constructed interior images, the light comes from within the image itself. The aim is to create a feeling of both exclusion and a desire to know what lies within. The constructed family portraits have been lit in a traditional oil portrait format using natural window light, playing with the mix of the old portrait style with the modern medium of photography. This play is important to the series and its layout in order to create an atmosphere where the traditional establishment of the clubs with their archaic rules of exclusion are investigated and seen through a modern medium and exhibition style.
As a result of the mixed lighting concept, two forms of display lighting are to be used for the exhibition, mixing modern exhibition lighting formats with traditional gallery lighting. Aluminium light-boxes are used to display all the exterior and constructed interior images complementing the concept of lighting from within the image and reinforcing the feeling of exclusion and desire. The photographic portraits on the other hand are to be displayed within traditional gold frames and lit with traditional gallery gold framed lights from above. These images in fact may actually be left displayed on the ground under the space and lights where they traditionally should be hung. This would create the idea that they are not actually welcome or in fact choose not to be a part of it.
The enclosed booklet of the series accompanies the exhibition. The booklet is divided into four sections of four images. In each section, one image opens up to a triptych series. The exhibition layout would follow a similar pattern with the exception of the portraits as explained above.
Photography images : All untitled : 2001 / 2002
Square format images, each 2ft x 2ft, some displayed individually and others in triptychs.
