"Drawing the Blinds" by Rita Duffy
Owner: Belfast Festival at Queens Location: Divis Flats, Belfast Title: ‘Drawing the Blinds’ November 2001 Artist: Rita Duffy Material: acrylic on linen Size: approx 200 images in windows throughout the building Funded by: Belfast Festival, Imagine Belfast 2000, Housing Executive, Baird McNutt Linen Company. Background: As a finale to Belfast Festival the artist created a temporary artwork involving the residents of the Divis Flats and placed images of residents or text within the windows and these were lit at night intending to present ‘a giant backlit tapestry.’ The artist said ‘the switching on and engagement with an audience was the power of art to communicate.’ Artists Details: Born in Belfast in 1959, Rita Duffy has established herself locally and internationally since the 1980s. She studied at the Ulster Polytechnic and later followed this with an MA in Fine Art at the University of Ulster, Belfast. Duffy has exhibited widely at venues including the Arts Council Gallery, the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Ormeau Baths Gallery and in numerous galleries throughout the U.S.A. her style originally drew heavily on the local political situation but over the past two decades she has established herself as a figurative/narrative artist. |
