T3-T4
T3-T4
Sarah Lewtas
‘Sé atá in ‘T3-T4’ - an taispeántas is déanaí de chuid An Gailearaí/ Ceardlann na gCroisbhealaí de shaothar an ealaíontóra áitiúla Saral Lewtas - ná sraith de thrí ghearrthóg físe, suiteáin agus de shaothair ar pháipéar agus iad spreagtha ag babhta tinnis a bhain di tá trí bliana ó shin, agus a raibh faireog thíoróideach nach raibh sách gníomhach taobh thiar de. I measc sainchomharthaí an tinnis seo bhí bail athraithe meabhrach, rud a rinne claochlú ar chúrsaí ama agus a chuir gnáthimeachtaí laethúla chun sioparnaí. An mhire mhicséidéimeach a thugtar ar an bhail seo, ó thaobh an leighis de.
Dar le Sarah, “Mhothaigh mé mar a bheinn i ngéibheann in am agus in aimsir, agus go raibh orm breith suas liom fhéin aríst is aríst eile. Chomh maith leis sin bhain babhtaí den siabhrán bodhaire domh, agus bhíodh mar a bheadh moilliú ar chúrsaí ama.”
Bhain an t-ealaíontóir leas as téamaí atá neadaithe ina hintinn go fóill ón tréimhse sin i leith, agus le cuidiú theicnící simplí eagarthóireachta tá iarracht déanta aici leis an díláithriúchán mearbhlach seo a athchruthú. “Bainim úsáid as na gearrthóga a thaifead mé cois na locha, áit a rachainn ag spaisteoireacht go rialta le linn mo thinnis agus ansin arís nuair a bhí mé ag teacht chugam féin; agus fite fuaite iontu sin tá athléiriú ar chuid de na nithe saoithiúla agus dúghafacha a ghlac seilbh iomlán ar m’aird san am sin.
“Is ón loch chéanna a thagann an tsraith darb ainm An Syrinx; tá an t-ainm sin bunaithe ar an tsíbhean mhiotaseolaíoch a chuir cló na giolcaí uirthi féin, rud a chuidigh léi éalú ó Phan. Cuireann an focal céanna seo síos fosta ar laraing na n-éan, agus ar na píoba a chruthaigh Pan amach as giolcacha Syrinx.
“Baineann gach ceann de na saothair atá ar taispeáint anseo leis an turas isteach sa tinneas thuasluaite, agus leis an phróiseas a bhain le teacht amach as arís, agus tá an t-uisce ag a gcroílár de shíor. Bhain tábhacht as an ghnáth le rudaí saoithiúla, an péire brístíní a nigh cara domh toisc nach raibh cinn ghlana agam, mion-nithe na beatha a chaitear ar leataoibh de ghnáth d’fhás siad ina mór-rudaí tábhachtacha a léirigh brí rúndiamhair an chosmais.”
T3-T4
Sarah Lewtas
An Gailearaí, Ceardlann na gCroisbhealach’s latest exhibition by local artist Sarah Lewtas, titled; ‘T3-T4’ is a series of 3 short films, Installations and works on paper inspired by a period of illness three years ago caused by an underactive thyroid. The symptoms of this illness included changed states of consciousness where time and the significance of day to day events were altered. The medical term for this state of mind is myxodema madness.
Sarah says ‘I felt trapped in time on occasions and compelled to catch up with myself over and over again; I also experienced auditory hallucinations where sound and time slowed down’
The artist has used themes that have stayed in her mind from that time, and using simple editing techniques she has tried to recreate a sense of displacement. ‘I use clips of the lake where I walked regularly during my illness and recovery interspersed with re-enactments of some of the strange or obsessive things that preoccupied me at that time’
The Syrinx series is taken from the same lake; I’ve named them after the mythical nymph who transformed herself into water reeds to escape from Pan. This word also describes the voice box of birds and the pipes which Pan in turn made out of Syrinx’s reeds.
All the work in the exhibition relates both to the journey out into illness and to the meditative process of recovery, which always connect to water in some way. Odd things took on a profound significance, Knickers laundered by a friend because I had no clean ones, the minutiae of existence usually discarded all came to represent the secrets of the cosmos.