Deborah
Lyons

Ace and Deuce

Deborah Lyons contemplates the roles of mother, artist, chronicler, and photographer within her paintings. Working from photographs of her eleven-year-old daughter, the images show the different stages of a child being prepared for an Irish dance competition. These artworks open a discourse on society’s views of Irish dance and how it has evolved today. Contemporary dancers wear wigs, make up, false tan and elaborate costumes, but many feel this beauty pageant appearance objectifies the young girls. The paintings contain a certain level of discomfort interwoven with melancholy they have a disquieting feeling as they capture a private moment between mother and child.