A Rose contemplates the role of one's name as semiotic device. The title of the work calls to mind Shakespeare's now ubiquitous line 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet' or Gertrude Stein's 'a rose is a rose, is a rose... ', Roland Barthes of course also waxed lyrical about the semiotic connotations of the rose. The work attempts to address what indeed is in a name?

Using the book The Golden Bough to highlight the various cultural associations with name utterance, the viewer is invited to ponder the sociological connection of a name to the person named, and the taboo of using names at all. In doing so the work effectively addresses how language itself acts as a beacon for deeper anthropological meaning. Part serious contemplation, part farce, Krieg's sense of humour comes into play. In this case, her desperate want to avoid using her name in conjunction with ther practice is pitted hopelessly against the alternative; as the text provides an illustration of a cultural faux pas: refusing to offer one's name when asked.

The work's working title was A Rose by the Name of Lily, because Susan is Hebrew for lily. The circle completes itself when in the Hebrew language, lily is somewhat synonymous with rose, such that when asking a Hebrew speaker what Susan means, both answers will equally come back to you.

A Rose, 2013; 'The Golden Bough', Scrabble racks, scrabble tiles, the artist's former name, Dimensions variable.