Reconstructing Memory
2016

Film Stills
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
Paintings
Publication
Essays and Reviews
Author: Megan Johnston
Reconstructing Memory Publication
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…
Author: Rebecca Kennedy
The Model
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…
Circa Magazine
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…
Author: Cristin Leach
The Sunday Times
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…
Author: Dr Michael Birchall
Publication
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…
Author: Catherine Marshall
Publication
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…
Author: Editor
The Guardian
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.
Author: Rebecca Kennedy
The Thin Air
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…
Author: Niall MacMonagle
Irish Independent
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,…