A recent article in Art UK discusses the power of Patricia Cronin’s (CRF 2009) sculpture, “Memorial to a Marriage,” in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. “It was created to challenge and confront heteronormativity, bias, and LGBTQ+ discrimination… [the sculpture] depicts [Cronin] and her partner, fellow artist Deborah Kass, lying in bed, embraced in each other’s arms. In 2004, when this bronze version was made, same-sex marriage was illegal in the United States of America. At this time, the only way in which Cronin’s and Kass’s relationship could be legally recognised was through documents such as wills or health care provisions that would only be enacted if either of them died. As it was only in death that their relationship could be ‘recognised’ in law, Cronin decided to create Memorial to a Marriage for her personal burial plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York – a funerary ‘memorial’ to her relationship with Kass.” Now, the original marble sculpture at Woodlawn has been replaced by a bronze one which stands as the first and only Marriage Equality Monument in the world. Read the entire article here.
The Power of Patricia Cronin’s “Memorial to a Marriage”
