Rhiannon Dionysius: Hold Your Horses
Wreckers Artspace, Brisbane
September 2022
Hold Your Horses uses the allegorical potential of fantasy narratives to tap into a shared mythology, a parallel world in which imaginary creatures face human challenges. Produced over the last 3 years, this exhibition brings together a cast of characters engaged in scenes full of drama, adventure, sacrifice, and pain. While these exact scenarios can’t be located in specific fairy tales they are familiar in the canon of fantasy: scary monsters, brave heroes, and perilous journeys; set amongst towering castles, river rapids, and vaulted chambers. Rhiannon brings her own personal lexicon to these tableaus, embedding layers of symbolism that refer to very real circumstances.
In the work Lancet a figure holds a mirror while gleefully placing a drop of blood in their eye, the title referring to both a surgical knife and a type of Gothic arched window. The scene depicted refers to the use of autologous eye drops, derived from blood and used to treat severe dry eyes. For many these eye drops are prohibitively expensive or inaccessible, and people will instead prick their fingers and drop blood directly into their eyes as a DIY remedy. In its confronting abjectness Rhiannon reminds us of the superficiality of the medical paradigm, revealing how shallow and naive our moat of pharmaceutical protection and bio-engineering really is.
The cast of maligned characters; witches, bats, snakes and dogs are depicted falling, drowning, reaching, weeping, being trapped or becoming lost. Their long scraggly limbs grasp, tears fall, bodies are pierced with arrows and are forced apart from one another. We are positioned on the outside of this drama looking in, through archways and tower windows into an interior world. After extended periods of isolation these stories offer comfort. A sense of purpose, fate and justice permeate out of fantasy, helping us to structure our experience and navigate adversity.
Art practice can be useful if it helps to work through grief, illness and isolation in a lighthearted and playful way. Despite Rhiannon’s representation of complex and difficult physical and psychological states there is a humour and joy underscoring her work. Through the labour-intensive creation of these works, often involving multiple processes of firing, drawing, carving, painting and glazes, Rhiannon produces artifacts of her own healing. In these processes is a practice of patience, tenderness, and care—a rejection of incessant ‘productivity’ and a celebration of ability.
As the exhibition’s title suggests, there is value to be found in slowing down and not getting ahead of oneself. This exhibition encourages us to be patient with ourselves, to make space for reflection, and to cultivate the seeds of healing, which will always take some time.