SANCTUARY BY THE SEA
WEXFORD-BASED ARTIST CREATES COASTAL SHRINE IN HONOUR OF CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS
THE Wexford-based artist Els Dietvorst has created a ‘shrine’ composed of white stones to honour those who have suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Els, a native of Belgium, lives in Duncormick and in one of her daily walks by the sea, she found some stones that someone had inscribed with the words ‘Covid 19’.
She felt inspired to place several white stones around it and she kept doing this every day. After a week of working on it, she noticed that anonymous walkers had also been contributing to the shrine.
Els started the project in March and the installation now has over 500 stones.
According to the artist, there are many sacred places around the world where pilgrims used to travel to connect to a special energy and the Covid 19 Temple is a similar, if shorter, type of pilgrimage for her. The piece is nestled in a place by the sea, between Cullenstown and Bannow, that she reaches after walking for half an hour.
‘This installation shows how despite the fact that our world is a completely different place from what it was four months ago, the need to connect and honour those who suffer is greater than ever,’ said Els whose most recent exhibition ‘Dooltocht: a desperate quest to find a base for hope’ at the Museum of Modern Art in Antwerp, celebrated the past 20 years of her life as an artist.
Core issues at the heart of El’s work include migration, social conflict, homelessness, nature, climate change and human mortality.
She prefers to work in collaboration with others and the seaside temple is a way of continuing to work with others, despite current lockdown restrictions.
Art historian Karla Sanchez, who is a friend of Els, described the Covid 19 Temple as a ‘beautiful symbol of love, peace and freedom that is touching and meaningful both to the artist and to all of us’.
‘Our humanity is being tested more than ever. We have to keep reaching out for one another, even from a distance and find hope in our company’, said Karla.