This article is from page 12 of the 2013-10-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
A BURREN based political artist staged a public art demonstration in Ennistymon last week which she hopes will help end the process of fluoridation of water in Ireland.
Doolin-based artist Marianne Slevin staged the public art event outside the Ennistymon Library, which involved arranging a number of leaves with messages on them concerning the process of water fluoridation.
The issue of fluoridation of Irish water has become contentions in recent months with a bill to end the practice due to come before Dáil Éireann later this year.
“It is certainly a political activity. I think art can be very transformative, and sometimes issues that can be difficult to talk about or can cause conflict are best approached from an artistic medium,” said Marianne.
“I think this is a way that people can hear about an issue and approach it in own way. People can come to the subject in their own way. I mean, I hate confrontation, I’d do anything to avoid confrontation, so this a way of talking about an issue without forcing my views on them.
“I had brought leaves with some writing on them with me, and after that I started to improvise. I set myself up outside the library and built a place to work there. When I was finished I just walked away and let people discover the leaves and the messages themselves.”
Marianne has also been interacting with people on the streets Ennis and Ennistymon in recent week asking people to pretend that they are asleep or hypnotized. Marianne’s husband, professional photographer James Slevin, then takes picture of the scene which will become part of a future exhibition.
“We talk about it [water fluoridation] if people are interested to talk about it, or we just take pictures with them if that is what they are comfortable with. Later we do hope to have an exhibition of this when it is finished,” continued Marianne.
Marianne and James operate the Secret Gallery in Doolin. The gallery, which is located in their own home, is open to members of the public who happen to find it.