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Mary Giles
In 2007, Mary Giles began doing wall
panels that dealt with her concerns about
population. The male figures they incor-
porate had been featured on her vessels
for nearly 30 years. She worked with ideas
of overpopulation, density, and bound-
aries. In Lead Relief (Reading Between
the Lines), dozens of tiny figures cluster
around the center seam, while fewer indi-
vidual figures stand alone in the periphery,
seemingly lost, amongst faint marks where
figures had once been. The work conjures
thoughts about connection, community,
identity, purpose, and more.
For Giles, the human figure, as used in
works like Grey Shadow (Ritual and Rev-
erence), is both a formal reference and as
an element of commentary. She interpreted
and expressed communication and intima-
cy in relationships in her figural work. Giles
admired the directness and honesty she saw
in tribal art and tried to incorporate those
qualities in her own work.
60mg Lead Relief
iron, wood, 23.75” x 56.75” x 2”, 2011
25mg.1 Grey Shadow
waxed linen with iron base, 24.75” x 10.625” x 5”, 2001
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