JACQUELINE TRELOAR – “THE CHILD” – CROWNS FOR THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, November 18 – 20, 2013
Elements used: Canvas, paper, beads, stitching, trinkets and decorations from southern Spain, images taken in the Santa Maria la Blanca synagogue in Toledo, the Mezquita in Cordova, the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, the Archeological museum and Real Alcazar gardens in Seville, and the Nasrid palaces and Generalife gardens in Granada.
Jacqueline Treloar’s “Crowns for the Queen of Heaven” is an ongoing project. The featured SPRING crown is one of four – finished to date. Treloar’s fascination with the crowned statues of the Virgin Mary has evolved from her years living in the inner city of Palermo where religious processions and festivities are a part of the fabric of the city. Traditionally, a crown represents legitimacy, triumph, power, glory or immortality. Not only does it make a person optically taller, but also it announces that this person is endowed with superior virtues, skills, and potentially god-like qualities. A crown protects and alienates.
It is not by accident, that Treloar has chosen this utmost symbol of institutionalized superiority to be the carrier of the most personal and intimate confession possible. We are not intimidated by priceless wealth of gems, pearls and gold any more. Instead, we are exposed to memories of spinning carousels, flea markets, family reunions, birthday celebrations, toys, trinkets, treasure chests and treasured memories. By incorporating images of her own friends and family members, Treloar inverts the crown’s untouchable sacredness into a vulnerable personal statement, which communicates universal concepts of human experience such as birth and death, aging and dependency as well as and the strength of family bonds and social relationships.
