Óráid ón Uachtarán Catherine Connolly Ócáid bhronnta Saoi Aosdána ar Dorothy Cross
Dé Céadaoin, 11 Feabhra 2026 11 r.n.
A Chairde Liteartha, Fileata agus Ealaíonta,
Tá fíor-áthas orm a bheith i bhur gcomhluadair inniu chun gradam Saoi Aosdána a bhronnadh ar Dorothy Cross, ceann de na healaíontóirí is oilte agus is cumasaí in Éirinn.
Is meitheal ealaíontóirí iad Aosdána atá de chuspóir acu aitheantas ar leith a bhronnadh ar shaothar ealaíonta chomh maith le deis; agus tacaiocht más gá; a thabhairt do na healaíontóirí a gcuid ama a chaitheamh ag saothrú a n-ealaíne.
Tá tusa i do bhall de chuid Aosdána le blianta fada anois, Dorothy, agus na blianta sin caite go dílis, dúthrachtach agat ag plé le réimsí éagsúla ealaíne. Nach aoibhinn agus ceart anois go bhfuil an lá tagtha go bhfuil do chuid comhghleacaithe in Aosdána ag tabhairt aitheantas do do shaothar ealaíonta.
Is gradam ar leith an teideal Saoi nach bhfuil bronnta ach ar 23 duine ó bunaíodh Aosdána 45 bliain ó shin. Is í Dorothy an 6ú bean a bhain an gradam seo amach go dtí seo ach tá súil agus dóchas agam go mbeidh go leor ban eile ar an liosta ómósach seo sa todhchaí. Ag breathnú siar ar do chuid oibre, Dorothy, is léir go bhfeileann an teideal ‘Saoi’ go maith tú; bean chríonna, léannta, eolach agus máistreacht do cheirde ar do thoil agat.
Dorothy, looking back at your work over the last four decades, which encompasses sculpture, photography and video, what jumps out to me is how your art challenges our perception and expectations by juxtaposing, and often merging, objects and materials in unexpected ways. In Relic, the shark skin and the gold come together, in your own words ‘making precious something that’s considered ugly or discardable’. The shark skin and the gold are treated with equal reverence. Your respect for the natural world – the ocean, the human body, nature itself – shines through your work.
There are layers of meaning to be found not only in the subject matter of your art, but in the actual material itself. I was particularly moved by Red Road and Red Erratic from your Damascus Rose exhibition, in which you use the beautiful, red-veined marble from Syria, compressed and formed over millennia and through generations, to evoke the awful reality of human displacement and forced migration across oceans due to war.
Of course, attributing meaning to a piece of art is fraught. What one person may take from experiencing art may be very different from another person’s perspective, and from what the artist themself intended in the process of creation. Therein lies the beauty of art - a creation of beauty for its own sake but allowing the freedom to all of us to form our own opinions.
We need to champion that concept in a time when creativity, curiosity and imagination are increasingly undervalued and are relegated to serving the needs of the powerful. It is a source of great encouragement that bodies such as Aosdána exist to assist artists to devote their energies fully to their art practice. If we are to harness the true value of arts in our society, we must never treat them as marginal or commodify and value them only in terms of their economic return. Doing so reduces art and, in doing so, reduces us all.
As part of my own preparation for today, the word ‘Dána’ caused me to reflect on the meaning of that word. We have the title Aosdána, two nouns coming together with many meanings, but in this context, literally, ‘the people of the arts’ or ‘the people of the crafts’. Along with that, we have the same word, ‘Dána’, as an adjective with so many powerful meanings – Misniúil, Muiníneach, Neamheaglach, Crosta, srl. or in English, Bold, Daring, Courageous, Audacious, Impish, etc.
Dorothy embodies all of those characteristics. They are abundantly evident in all her work, and particularly in what she describes as her trilogy.
Imagine having the vision to place a mummified body on a boat in Ireland, and to navigate that boat through the Bay of Biscay, the Straits of Gibraltar and on to Cairo. Dorothy is an artist who is not limited by boundaries and she is an absolute inspiration to us.
Tá sé de phléisiúr agam an torc órga seo, atá mar shiombail ar Shaoi Aosdána, a bhronnadh ar Dorothy inniu. Ba mhaith liom, mar Uachtarán na hÉireann mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leat, Dorothy, as ucht an méid atá curtha agat le saol na healaíne in Éirinn.
Tá an onóir seo tuillte go maith agat, comhghairdeas ó chroí leat agus go mba fada buan tú.
Go raibh maith agaibh.