imagines obesae et aspectui ingratae

This work for solo viola is entitled 'imagines obesae et aspectui ingratae'. The four movements are based on the Sheela-na-gig carvings, which are 'obscene' and 'grotesque', and this is what makes them such powerful representations of the female. Clearly they came to be seen by the church as perversions, perhaps due to its increasing domination by a patriarchal Roman hierarchy that had fully absorbed Augustinian strictures. In relation to contemporary notions of female beauty, sheela- na-gigs are deeply disturbing and ambivalent figures. They are equally unsettling, abject, even intimidating in their combined depiction of death and regeneration— their juxtaposition of emaciated breasts, jutting ribs, and fecund, gaping vulvas is a far cry from contemporary inventions of the Celtic Goddess. But sheelas are also exceptionally beautiful in a way that I cannot explain or describe. In this viola work, I wanted to try to capture this ambiguity.