-
- Marianne Ludden
Marianne
Ludden
Teeth & Devotion
This project explores the relationship between land, ritual, and memory, focusing on Ireland’s ancient bog bodies. I am drawn to the paradox of preservation in bogs and how certain features like teeth endure while others vanish. Teeth became a central motif, symbolising survival, identity, and relics of worship.
Inspired by Francis Bacon’s raw colour palettes and emotional figuration, I build rough, layered surfaces. My process blends wet and dry media to evoke leathery, aged textures, referencing museum visits and bogland walks near Parke, County Mayo. I also carved with bog oak to deepen the physicality and historical resonance of my work.
The project connects these ancient motifs to contemporary culture through the imagery of grills (modern gold dental adornments) tied to power and identity in hip-hop culture. Like ancient Irish gold objects (torcs, lunulae), grills become symbols of worship, merging the sacred and the modern. These teeth become altars; bridging timelines, culture, and meaning.
Objects Of Worship
This project expands on themes of ritual, preservation, and symbolic worship – a theme explored in my work previously. This body of work shifts toward modern day altars found in childhood. Children imbue certain toys and possessions with deep emotional significance; arranging them with care, reverence, and even ritualistic placement. These objects, displayed almost like offerings, echo the sacred function of altars and relics in both ancient and contemporary cultures. I explore how these early relationships to objects form personal belief systems, emphasising the worship of the characters presented in this series. Simplified backgrounds and luminous colours heighten the sense of purity and devotion, mirroring how these objects are isolated and glorified in the child’s world.