Page 41 - Enso Circle Catalog September 2021

About LEFT, AND RIGHT

the GAIL BYRNES DETAIL
METAMORPHOSIS
FOIL ARMATURE.
Artist CREATIVE PAPERCLAY,
TISSUE PAPER WINGS.
WILLOW BRANCH
CAGE.
Long ago, I was introduced to shamanism and have worked with and
apprenticed with shamans in multiple traditions. I believe that we are all 12” IN DIAMETER
3’ HIGH
connected; people, animals who walk, swim, and fly; plants and trees, NFS
earth and sky. Spirit moves freely through us all, unless it is blocked by
some force.

In art, my goal is to give creative expression to my soul, which is part of
this great web of connectivity.

About My goal for this Enso Circle residency was to explore restrictions on

women’s bodies through fashion and culture.
the I CAN’T BREATHE.

Work This piece is about binding women’s bodies through corsets and the
resulting constrictions upon organs and the breath itself. On the top, I
embedded faces of women who might have had to wear corsets during
their lifetime. I created a cage to further emphasize being trapped within
this manmade confine.

METAMORPHOSIS.

This piece shows a woman emerging from her cocoon and eventually
breaking free of her cage. She has fierce determination as she midwifes
herself across this threshold from entrapment and hibernation to freedom.
She will fly free as she claims her true self, and realizes her destiny as a
butterfly, pollinator and bringer of beauty.

RIGHT: I CAN’T BREATHE
WIRE ARMATURE WITH MULBERRY PAPER AND ENCAUSTIC WAX.
EMBEDDED TISSUE PAPER IMAGES. TEA PAPER SKIRT. WILLOW
BRANCH CAGE.
14” IN DIAMETER
3’ HIGH
40 NFS 41