2018, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, Texas
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This exhibition features pieces from Mulcahy’s ongoing body of work: War Garden. Among the works in the exhibition, are 14 delicate watercolor paintings on paper. One such painting depicts a Cuban Rock Iguana, also known as the Gitmo lizard. The object is beautiful and seems, at least initially, innocuous. The image itself is unobtrusive. Through its delicate lines and soft color palette, it seems at risk of fading into the background — not unlike its historic referent. Mulcahy points out that, “The island’s native lizards enjoy federal protections — they cannot be harmed, killed or captured — afforded by the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, protections not extended to the current human GTMO detainees.” This poignant observation exemplifies the strength of this body of work. Mulcahy highlights the quiet and unseen injustices in a way that parallels their obscurity in our collective consciousness. The inherent playfulness of this comparison can be, in turns, incisive, comical, and even horrifying.
With this work, Mulcahy investigates the last 100 years of American involvement in modern warfare beginning in 1917 with World War I and our first mass-produced tanks, planes, and bombs. The work addresses not only armed military conflicts between the U.S. and hundreds of nation states and other insurgent groups, but also military occupations, invasions, and interventions, as well as our weapons manufacturing industry from the U. S. military’s earliest experiments to the current DARPA-funded next generation weapons research.
- Linda Mowl
