Artist's Statement
"As Alexander Betts stated in an article in The Guardian about human migration, 'whether they are fleeing armed conflict or economic deprivation- or both- people will continue trying to cross borders in search of a decent life, and the global community needs to address this'
1845: Memento Mori
is a Famine Memorial dedicated to the Irish Potato Famine. I have created an installation made of 1845 handblown glass potatoes that are piled into the form of a cairn. A cairn is a pile of stones that serves as a land marker, but in this case, it suggests a burial monument, and instead of stones, I am piling potatoes.
The number of the glass potatoes, 1845, also the title of the project, references the year that the potato blight came to Ireland, marking the beginning of a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration. Over 1.5 million people died, and a further 1 million emigrated to Australia, Canada but mostly to America.
'About two-thirds of all Irish emigrants in the last six decades of the 19th century came to the United States. Most of those who today identify as Irish Americans are likely to be descended from post-Famine immigrants' said Dan Mulhall, Irish Ambassador to US.
I was born and grew up in Ireland but moved to Seattle in 1993. As a modern-day member of the Irish Diaspora, I have now crossed the line where I have lived in America longer than I have lived in Ireland. Despite my full integration into a new world, I have never managed to shake the intense longing of living so far away from "home". In creating this work, I honor my Irish heritage and culture, and all immigrants who have come before me. I also want to throw light on historical events that have shaped the present and open a dialogue on how we can learn from the past. I hope to create a bridge between the old and new, the past and the present. And in doing so I hope to elicit compassionate reflection that transcends the polarizing politics of our current time."
Paula Stokes graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland with a Bachelor's Degree (with honors) in Glass Design. She holds a Certificate in Glassmaking and Technology from the Dudley College of Technology, UK. Stokes received the Milnora Roberts Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Printmaking from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Stokes lives and works in Seattle.
She has exhibited extensively internationally, with exhibitions including Solas: Light Inspires Glass, Morean Arts Center, Florida (2017), Into The Field, The Model Contemporary Art Center, Sligo (2014), Future Beauty at the National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny(2013), Critical Selection, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Collect 2012, Saatchi Gallery, London, Engaging with Glass, Traver Gallery, Tacoma, and the Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, Ireland (2011- 2012), Supermarket, Stockholm, Sweden (2012), Transformation, Shift Gallery, Seattle (2012), 21st Century Irish Craft, National Museum of Ireland (2011), and The Wild Geese, Crafts Council of Ireland Gallery, Ireland (2007). Stokes' work is included in many collections including the National Museum of Ireland and the Irish Embassies in Brussels and Beijing.
Stokes has been awarded residencies at the Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, Ballinskelligs, Ireland, and at the Jefferson County Museum of Art and History, Port Townsend, Washington.
