Alice Walsh - Changes
Mixed Media
PALIMPSEST III, mixed media (library catalog cards, gold leaf, acrylic on canvas board, wood dowels and finials). Palimpsest III is painted in the style of a Medieval Illuminated Manuscript. The painting rests on a scroll, fabricated from discarded library catalog cards for books about revolution, Africa and the Middle East, and the advent of computers. Palimpsest III comments on changes in how we communicate (from ancient paintings for the illiterate, to simple hand-lettered books for the few, to machine published books for the majority, to electronic media for the masses). It also comments on what topics we now communicate (time-critical, immediate messaging for the purpose of social change). Finally, Palimpsest III comments on the fact that many of the people currently using Internet technology to effect social change, are otherwise living as if in the “dark ages.” They lack money and modern comforts, and often are oppressed, with few human rights or women’s rights. The Latin on the Manuscript translates as: “Let the people rule,” and “Let the revolution be just.” 48cm H x 53 cm W