Rosary, 2021
hand-printed ink on Sekishu kozo paper
with cotton thread, cloth-covered dowel
50″ x 16″ as shown
(total size 470″ x 3″)
Follow this QR code to view the video accompanying McInerney’s work:
Artist Statement
I was pulled into the past during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: rereading, rewriting, rethinking, reframing. Creating was difficult and new grew frivolous. Repurposing became my focus.
Rosary: I was bred in the company of farmers and makers who unwittingly indoctrinated me in the power of slow, repetitive work. I learned that skilled hands—persuading the most basic elements to become refined and essential—are sacred. Rosary honors the common domestic ritual of rag rugging.
Indelible: The grid has been imposed on nature since humans searched for ways to chart and control their world. Urban expansion, power networks, and natural resource extraction rely on this system of mapping, often with irreparable environmental damage. I began the Indelible project by reusing my own work to foreground and mourn these eternally-scarred landscapes.