FINE ART : FORMER ACNI

Title: Bee Dress
Object Name: Sculpture
Maker: Maher, Alice (Primary maker)
Maher, Alice (maker)
Date Made: 1994
1994
Description: A childs dress covered entirely in honey bees. This piece was always read as being metaphoric and representing the female...either as a victim or as power figure. However most people overlooked the fact that it is a childs garment not that of an adult woman...and it can be read as emblematic of the condition of children, who had no rights at all in 20th century Ireland, but were 'owned' by their parents, religious guardians or the state institutions. We subsequently discovered the appalling ways in which these agents controlled, manupilated and even sold children. This tiny piece expresses all the social cohesion of the hive, while at the same time embodying the pain of a million stings perpetrated upon the individual body. (from discussion with the artist in March 2018) Made by the artist following her MA in Belfast.
Materials: Mixed Media
Catalogue Number: BELUM.U2012.3.439

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