Commission: Of Ice and Light by Ruth Le Gear
Posted: 21 December, 2021
Celebrate a successful year with Arts & Disability Ireland with some festive artwork by Ruth Le Gear.
2021 marked the eighth year of Arts and Disability Connect (ADC), a funding scheme for individual artists with disabilities funded by the Arts Council and managed by Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI).
To acknowledge new developments in the scheme including increased funding from the Arts Council, a new Research and Development award, and a second funding round; along with other notable achievements of ADI throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided to celebrate by showcasing work from a previous ADC award recipient Ruth Le Gear called Of Ice and Light.
May we take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support in working with us to make the arts and cultural environment more inclusive and accessible for everyone!
Wishing you and yours the peace and happiness of the season,
Pádraig, Ramona, Amie, Síle and Aoife.
Commission: Of Ice and Light
Of Ice and Light by Ruth Le Gear is a piece commissioned by Arts & Disability Ireland (2021). It is forming as part of a large body of work. A circle is visible in black space, as though particles are drifting through deep water. In the background, the sound of icebergs melting echoes.
A note from the artist:
“In 2012 I traveled to the Arctic and collected iceberg fragments, waters, film footage, and sounds of icebergs melting. I am now taking the time to revisit this work through another lens, with the tincture of time. The sounds in this work are that of icebergs melting underwater, this ancient air dissipating out into the water carrying all the codes of wisdom to us, reminding us we are not alone. We have forgotten our origins and the connection to this realm. Of cosmic and intimate proportions.”
View the artwork in full here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CphGm2Abtoc
Discover more of Ruth’s work on her website or on Instagram @ruthlegear
Video description: Of Ice and Light by Ruth Le Gear
Of Ice and Light is a moving image work, its duration is 3 minutes 56 seconds.
It starts briefly with a black screen. Hundreds, if not thousands of tiny spherical fragments of light appear. They begin at the centre point of the screen drifting through darkness, outwards and towards us to create a large globe. We view this as we might view the universe and space. The fragments drift towards us as if pulled by gravity. They appear perfectly formed but as some of them move towards us it is evident they are translucent. As they move closer they appear like tiny galaxies. Blue, purple, white and coral colours swirl within them.
Black shadows float across the large globe, blocking our view of the fragments of light. Some of the shadows stay a while before drifting away. Some swirl towards us before disappearing. In the last seconds of the moving image work these black shadows grow and envelop the large, ever moving cosmic globe made from fragments of light. Until all that is left is a black screen.
Credits with white text on a black background read:
‘Created by Ruth Le Gear
Sound Design Cyril Briscoe
Arts & Disability Ireland’
