Occupation Canadian artist | Name Lycia Trouton | |
Born 1967 ( 1967 ) Belfast, Northern Ireland Education Carnegie Mellon University | ||
Let's Talk: Dr Lycia Trouton, Artist, Writer & Public Speaker pt1
Lycia Trouton was born in Belfast and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Contents
- Lets Talk Dr Lycia Trouton Artist Writer Public Speaker pt1
- Education
- The Linen Memorial
- partial Exhibition History
- Writing by or about the artist
- References
In 1999, after a visit to Northern Ireland, Trouton received a $5,000 research grant from Canada Council of the Arts to begin researching a textile memorial to those killed in The Troubles of Northern Ireland. After several renamings, the piece would be called the Linen Memorial. The Memorial is a list of almost 4,000 of those who died in 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland from 1966 to 2009 in a chronological Names List, embroidered on Irish Linen handkerchiefs. The Memorial was publicly unveiled in Ireland at a peace and reconciliation centre on the first Private Day of Reflection, 2007, on the sectarian violence. It formed the basis of Trouton's graduate thesis. It was also shown in Canberra's Design Centre, CraftACT, Australia, 2004, and in 2011 in Portneuf, Quebec Canada during Quebec's International Biennale of Flax and Linen (BILP).
Education
Trouton obtained her BFA in sculpture at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, U.S.A in 1988 and then her MFA, at Cranbrook Educational Community School of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S.A in 1991. She moved to Australia in 2001 and completed her doctorate in 2005 at the age of 38 at the University of Wollongong, 2001-5.
The Linen Memorial
The Linen Memorial, conceived and created in 2001 by Lycia Danielle Trouton is made from almost 400 Irish linen handkerchiefs listing almost 4000 names of those killed during the fraught period in contemporary Northern Ireland, called 'The Troubles';. It was conceived in 1999 after the artist exhibited at The Waterworks, Antrim Road, North Belfast. Subsequently, Lycia did research into the fabric of linen, at The Linen Museum, Lisburn and also toured a former flax scutching mill in the Irish countryside.
The Memorial was first unveiled on September 7, 2001 in Washington state, USA, as part of an ecumenical project with the names list on printed handkerchiefs and a 'coffin' represented in compressed peat moss (Irish bog oak). The 2002 in Australia showing on The Day of the Dead featured a soundscape by Thomas Fitzgerald (composer) which incorporated Kevin McFadden's Gaelic poetry, with oration by Anthony Stamboulieh, and a performance with choreography by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, OAM, and her Mirramu Dance Company. In 2004, the printed names on the handkerchiefs were embroidered by volunteers, with more than 200 completed by 2010.
The Linen Memorial was initially exhibited in Northern Ireland at the Corrymeela Community Centre for Peace and Reconciliation on June 21, 2007 and 2008, in recognition of the first Day of Private Reflection; both showings included a names reading, and in 2008, persons who so wished could pin a memento or token of remembrance, beside a name on a handkerchief. The Linen Memorial was also exhibited at the Flax and Linen Biennale in Quebec in 2011.
partial Exhibition History
(UTC) Conflict Archive on the Net (CAIN): Victims: Memorials/Monuments. Funding of website is by The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK and Access Research Knowledge ARK Northern Ireland