Mary Kelly: Gloria Patri

he dramatically-lit polished aluminium shields, trophies and discs of Gloria Patri are hung at varying heights, making use of peripheral vision. Media reports of battle from the war in Iraq in the early 1990s are etched onto the surface of the shields and presented with a super-flat metallic shine, parodying the way masculinity is defined and displayed. As part of the artist’s ongoing interrogation of gender politics, Gloria Patri considers the consequences, for women, of adopting the masculine ideal, for instance, demanding the right to go to the front line and kill the enemy. Although, she addresses this obliquely through a narrative about physical fitness rather than combat.