Doors of Perception

Doors of Perception is a sculptural body of pierced reliefs staging an encounter with thresholds, inviting the viewer to move sensorially and somatically through the work. Anatomically derived forms are carved into slabs of Kilkenny marble and held, jewel-like, in stainless-steel clasps. Some hover just off the wall; others are suspended within the space. The two largest carvings each rise 3.15 metres high, looming together to form a portal. Across the pair, forms reverse; convex elements are rendered concave. The works memorialise a pivotal moment in the artist’s life while more broadly reflecting on how we encounter moments of decision and transformation. Despite the stone’s scale and weight, the reliefs appear uncannily weightless, evoking both gravitas and transience. Highly polished blue-black limestone, flecked with white fossils, contrasts with the clean modernity of structural steel, bringing geological time into dialogue with the present. Irish limestone connects the work to Ireland’s megalithic heritage, where thresholds were understood as both physical and temporal and held ritual significance. As with those ancient dolmens, 'Doors of Perception' binds past and future, known and unknown, inviting the viewer into a charged space of uncertainty and illumination. To learn more about this series, please read Thomas Morgan Evans' essay here.