The dramatically-lit shields, trophies, and discs of Gloria Patri initially present riddles of texts taken out of context, narratives about the physical fitness of women. But what we are seeing here are actual media reports of battle from the war in Iraq in the early 1990s, etched onto the surface of these objects polished to a super-flat metallic shine. In a parody of the way masculinity is defined and displayed, and as part of the artist’s ongoing interrogation of gender politics, Gloria Patri considers the consequences, for women, of adopting the masculine ideal.
