The Rose in Winter

A cabinet reliquary by Barbara Mercer

Plinth Dates: 6-8 September 2011

‘The Rose in Winter’, mixed media, by Barbara Mercer

The Victorian medicine cabinet, lined with feathers and winter snowberries, contains a pastel and gouache drawing of a single rose, incorporating the names of the old roses removed from the Oxford Botanic Garden in 2009. The soundtrack mixes the voices of people recalling the memories and powerful emotions associated with the rose, and the voice of an actor reciting the names of the lost roses. This work was inspired by the medieval reliquaries in the Church of the Madonna del Orto in Venice, the loss of the roses, and the death of my mother in November 2008.

Barbara Mercer