RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES :: Meg Leary

6.23.18

Cunsthaus

Ride of the Valkyries is artist Meg Leary’s first show in Tampa. The featured works on view are nine gold-leafed hairdryers that represent the Valkyries (Brünhilde, Waltraute, Helmwige, Gerhilde, Siegrune, Schwertleite, Ortlinde, Grimgerde and Rossweisse) portrayed in Wagner's epic Opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. The hairdryers spin and sing, flying through the air in chaotic patterns. In Norse mythology, the Valkyries were female warriors send by the god Odin to fly through the air deciding who lives and dies in battle. During this tumultuous political moment, Leary’s sound sculptures are a physical manifestation of the contradictions of women in the world. Meg Leary (b. 1978) is a Chicago-based performance, sound and visual artist. She began her career as an opera singer, which has since become the foundation for the visual and performative works she creates. Over the past decade, she has been developing a series of performances, videos, sculptures and compositions based on the public perception of the “diva.” These pieces examine issues of femininity, queerness, fatness and voicelessness.