Dorothy Cross

The chauvinist and colonizing impetus of mapping is revealed by Dorothy Cross, one of a number of Irish women artists who have adopted a subversively humorous approach to the "troubles" in Ireland. Cross sculpted two bronze maps - one of Ireland and one of England - to serve as latrines and installed them in a derelict Victorian men's public underground toilet in the East End of London. Cross's site-specific installation is an interactive art work: as with all public toilets, a choice must be made before you enter, but in this case the signs over the doorway do not discriminate along the usual gender lines. Instead they read "IRISH" and "ENGLISH".

About the Artist:
Dorothy Cross was born in Cork, Ireland in 1956. She received a B.A. from Leicester Polytechnic in England and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She was Ireland's representative in the 1993 Venice Biennale. She now lives in Dublin.

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