Charles Fort was partially destroyed by fire in the 1920s. Influenced by this event, Anya Gallaccio will seal up the remaining windows and 'mend' the original structures with coloured glass. The glass will reflect the changing nature of the light and landscape to create a constantly evolving theatre of shadows upon the adjacent buildings as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Inspired by the American Transcendental landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church and his dramatic panoramas, Gallaccio is drawn to the Ireland of mass emigration. She has embraced the idea of 'going west' in search of a new beginning as Kinsale is one of the last land masses before America - the home of many of the Irish diaspora.
"I wanted to harness the natural sunlight and colours of Kinsale as my materials to explore notions of the sublime in the hope of evoking emotions of awe and inspiration. I also want to remind visitors of the historical function of the fort as a structure of war." Anya Gallaccio
Scottish artist Anya Gallaccio is a former Turner Prize nominee. She has exhibited extensively both in the UK and Internationally. Her work has been seen in galleries from New York to Japan and in the UK she has had solo exhibitions in galleries such as Tate Britain and the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. Her work is featured in numerous public and private collections including the Tate Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. This is Anya Gallaccio's first time to exhibit in the Republic of Ireland.