GALWEGIANS OF a certain age will remember that, up to the very late 1980s, most of Knocnakacarra was fields, farmlands, and wide open spaces, as opposed to the vast series of homes and estates it is now.
Among those who remember Knocknacarra in that earlier incarnation, is Galway artist Hilary Morley, whose "once solitary house" in the area, now takes its place "in the tsunami of concrete engulfing the green fields". However, when the building boom tailed off during the worst years of the recent recession, Morley took time to explore the area, "climbing the ditches, taking photographs, and making charcoal drawings" of the landscape, in the process, finding the 'hidden' "cottages, sheds, and fairy trees", and meeting local farmers.
Morley sought to capture these 'hidden' areas, along with what she calls "how the suburb raises from the edge of the ocean and bathes in extraordinary sunlight and the lavender haze of Connemara", in a new exhibition of small acrylic works, Knocknacarra: Living On The Edge. The exhibition opens this Thursday [April 13] at 6.30pm in Murray's, Nile Lodge, Mondays to Fridays, from 8am to 4pm, until Saturday May 5.
A native of Louth, Morley recently graduated with a BA in fine art from GMIT. This is her first solo exhibition. The painting below is Morley's Ballymoneen Farm (acrylic on board ). See www.hilarymorley.com
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