PROFILE

Erin de Burca left her native Dublin in 1982. She worked in Harare (Zimbabwe) and Madrid before settling in Calpe, Alicante in 1986. She divides her time between work in her Calpe studio and teaching.
Frequent visits to Dublin have been a source of inspiration for her most recent work. These visits have made her aware of the permanence of her Irish identity and of how her culture colours her perception in spite of having lived as many years abroad as in Ireland.

ARTIST´S STATEMENT

In my painting, I like to present what is usually considered to be unattractive as an aesthetic form. I try not to edit out what I see but to make all part of the composition, highlighting the constant clutter our eyes look through when viewing our surroundings.
At present, I am working on a series of Dublin and Barcelona cityscapes. By their juxtaposition I become aware of how I perceive my surroundings, depending on whether I am a native or a visitor. For the visitor even the mundane has an exotic quality; for the native, the city is a backdrop to the practical services by which we cope with urban life.
This difference in perception is intrinsically related to identity and culture. In my native city I can interpret all I see; everything has meaning for me either through personal experience or collective history. There is no mystery. On the other hand, the foreign city is all mystery; that is what makes it an attraction for the tourist or a source of terror for the refugee.