To celebrate the remarkable achievements of Jesse Jones - an artist uniting Ireland’s formidable strength in the visual arts, theatre and dance, Talbot Rice Gallery and Edinburgh University Press are delighted to announce the publication of a book that charts the research and cultural analysis of the artworks – Tremble Tremble and The Tower and the political climates they were born from.
This richly illustrated catalogue is published on the occasion of Jesse Jones’ exhibition The Tower at Talbot Rice Gallery, with contributions from feminist activist and writer Silvia Federici, curator Tessa Giblin, leading Irish academics Tina Kinsella and Lisa Godson, actress and poet Naomi Moonveld-Nkosi, writer and curator Tara Londi, acclaimed choreographers Junk Ensemble, and an interview that spans the making of both artworks with Jesse Jones.
Using a form of expanded cinema artist Jesse Jones explores magical counter-narratives to the state, drawn from suppressed archetypes and myth. This is the first book dedicated to two seminal works by Jones: Tremble Tremble which she presented in the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and subsequently toured globally; and The Tower which was commissioned by Rua Red in Dublin as part of The Magdalene Series.
Jones’ research is grounded in the history of female mystical thought as a site of autonomy and resistance. She trusts in the potential of art to ignite our collective imaginary and agitate for change against the centuries of capital accumulation that has impacted upon women’s freedoms. It is also the story about Jones’ motivation as an artist and the extraordinary sea of political and cultural change that has engulfed Ireland over the past decade.
Published by Talbot Rice Gallery, in partnership with Edinburgh University Press
