NOW ISLANDS

My solo exhibition opened at The Royal Hibernian Academy’s Ashford Gallery a few months before Covid hit. It was a time of protest, repeal, homelessness, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a first disconnect with reality - a zeitgeist of unease. I decided to record how the world felt right then and to isolate each ‘concern’, printing it onto silk fabric, arranging on a reflective surface and painting. During an earlier trip to my brother Liam in Connecticut, his wife Susan drove me to Thimble Islands, a small archipelago of pink granite islands, each with a house and perhaps a tree, a staircase, a swing or a seat outside, each one autonomous and individual, a metaphor for humanity - and this was the mood I aimed for.

Now Islands considers our social and political climate. Artworks delve into then current issues, confining each to their island in order to get a clearer picture of how things are – each island set adrift in a nothingness of calm, with only a reflection to confirm its existence. The first 10 images are from the original exhibition.