Reconstructing Memory
2016
Film Stills
Process
Studio Shots
Offerendos
Sugar Mold, 12cm x 99.5cm x 9cm, wooden mold 
Plaster Madonna, 140cm x 46cm 
Patinated Bronze Bones 
Dried Roses 
Antique Carousel Horse, Wood & bronze, 98cm x 22cm 
Sacred Heart of Mexico, Antique Aztec clay bowl, madonna head, plaster, 2 x Sacred Hearts in metal, 3 x plant seeds, 2 x large hard seeds, Mexican paper ticket, 51cm x 7cm, 
Rose ball, Dried rose heads, paper, glue and varnish, 79cm x 79cm 
Porcelain skull, 37.5cm x 12cm. Series of 107 skulls. 
Patinated bronze skull, 44.5cm x 15cm. Series of 8 skulls 
Rose skull, Clay skull, dried rose petals, dried rose heads, glue, 17cm x 17cm x 15cm 
Antique wooden boxes x 5, assorted dried marigolds and dried fruits 
Child’s wreath Mexico, Plastic flowers, rusty wire and metal frame, 49cm x 42cm x 17cm 
Bell jars x 2, Glass, wood base, dried marigolds flowers, 59cm x 77.5cm & 72cm x 87.5cm, 
Antique water vessel reassembled, Clay and gold resin, 31cm x 103cm, 
Marigold ball, Dried marigold flowers, paper, varnish, glue, 65cm x 65cm x 65cm 
Kingfisher, Taxidermy kingfisher, Ceide Fields moss, Antique Aztec Mexican bowl, 39.5cm x 97cm, 
Her Victorian treasure box, Antique wooden box, dried limes, brush, mirror, teeth in religious wooden box, antique Aztec necklaceand children’s lasts, 41cm x 20cm x 28cm, 
Floral gift, Dried marigolds, elastic hairband, 41cm x 112cm x 11cm 
Antique wooden boxes x 5, assorted dried marigolds and dried fruits 
5 Victorian Frogs in a Box, taxidermy frogs, victorian box 
Sacred Heart of Mexico, Antique Aztec clay bowl, Madonna head, plaster, 2 x Sacred Hearts in metal, 3 x plant seeds, 2 x large hard seeds, Mexican paper ticket, 51cm x 7cm 
Mexican grave candles 
Sugar Molds, Wooden molds, 212cm x 99.5cm x 9cm, 
Her Eye Balls, Blown glass, marigolds, antique Aztec Mexican bowl, 45.5cm x 73cm, Installation Shots
Angels Graves
Photography – Lambda Prints with Acrylic
Lambda Prints with Acrylic, 60cm x 90cm 
Lambda Prints with Acrylic, 60cm x 90cm 
Lambda Prints with Acrylic, 60cm x 90cm Paintings
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Marigold Fields, Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Marigold Fields, Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Oil on linen, 152cm x 152cm 
Publication
Essays and Reviews
Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination. Dr Oliver Sacks, Scientist and Writer The notion that we see with the brain, activating perception and memory, serves as a useful point of departure in the work by Clea…
Irish artist Cléa van der Grijn has spent nearly a decade meditating on our society’s response to death and loss. From 2008’s Momentos to her new show, Reconstructing Memory, in Sligo’s The Model, the artist has harbored a fixation with death and loss – a fixation that has nourished her creative process. Reconstructing Memory is…
Venturing into ‘Reconstructing Memory’, a multi-media exhibition featuring large-scale paintings, photography, installations, artifacts and sculptures at The Model, Sligo, is a truly subversive experience. The exhibition is the creation of Cléa van der Grijn, an Irish artist who wishes to challenge our perceptions of death, grief, ritual and memory. This six-part show was designed to engage…
In Mexico, the date of birth is marked on the graves of children, but not the date they died. The feelings evoked by this poignant fact, and an understanding of the cultural motivations behind it, are amongst the most evocative takeaways from artist Clea van der Grijns Reconstructing memory show at Limerick City Gallery. This…
Within the canon of western art, artists are often asked to perform civic duties, by acting as ethnographers or observers of specific moments. In considering the relationship between Mexican death traditions and the western idea of mourning, burial and commemoration there are stark differences. This essay will consider Clea van der Grijin’s practice in the…
Film, painting and installation work by Cléa van der Grijn, 2016. In Cléa van der Grijn’s short film ‘Re-constructing Memory’, a child, wanders along a shadowy road at evening, into a graveyard, where she stops at a grave and picks up the toys she finds there. Given all that we now know about the things…
Cléa van der Grijn: Reconstructing Memory Limerick City Gallery of Art. Following a residency in Mexico, Van der Grijn presents intricately haunting installations embodying various ritualistic means of coping with the ultimate shockwave of bereavement.
Irish artist Cléa van der Grijn has spent nearly a decade meditating on our society’s response to death and loss. From 2008’s Momentos to her new show, Reconstructing Memory, in Sligo’s The Model, the artist has harbored a fixation with death and loss – a fixation that has nourished her creative process. Reconstructing Memory is…
What Lies Beneath For Sligo-based artist Clea van der Grijn, there were “too many lost years trying to be something I was not. I was a rather hedonistic creature and hedonism did not serve me well”. But the found years have delivered an extraordinary, impressively varied body of work, including painted fabric, a locust sculpture,…
