Below is an excerpt from a paper I was beginning to present at a New England Regional Meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies. Unfortunately, I came down with the Noro virus and had to leave the conference suddenly and drive across the entire state of Connecticut… sick as a dog. Ugh! What a memory… Anyway, enjoy this excerpt that I never was able to present completely.
Blind Girl at a Holy Well - a Scene in the West of Ireland
Painting by Frederick William Burton
In Frederic William Burton's painting, Blind Girl at a Holy Well - a Scene in the West of Ireland, we could broaden our interpretation to consider who Burton was representing through this young, blind girl. Notice that the younger girl serves as blind girl's ‘eyes.’ Through the establishment of the iconic figure of a blind girl within the mind-set of the community, Burton places this icon in a new reality that the community does not usually accept as the normal setting for this iconic figure: a blind girl gathering water at a well. This placement allows the artist to make a statement that brings awareness to the community’s consciousness of an aspect within its culture that may need some attention.
In Burton's painting, the commonplace figures become associations of those communal concepts to which many members can relate on a personal level: hope, industriousness and innocence, all of which he creates in the necessary function of gathering water. In Luke 6:39, Jesus asks His disciples, "Can a blind person guide a blind person?" In this painting, the audience can "see" the necessity for others to help those, who are blinded, in the human act of quenching thirst, be that a physical, emotional, or political thirst.
To hear me read this excerpt, please click HERE.
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