In September Mayo born artist Niamh O’Malley will return to her home county for a unique exhibition featuring recent examples of her work in five different venues around the Mayo region.
Creating a cultural trail through some of Ireland’s most stunning landscapes, visitors are encouraged to engage with Niamh’s work in exhibition spaces in Belmullet, Ballycastle, Ballina, Castlebar, and Westport.
The project breaks ground as it is the first time all five publicly funded visual arts spaces in Mayo— Aras Inis Gluaire; Ballina Arts Centre; Ballinglen Arts Foundation; Custom House Studios; and Linenhall Arts Centre—have collaborated to show a single artist’s work simultaneously.
Niamh’s work combines video installation with sculptural objects and drawings, many of which draw on landscape as a subject. Her recent film works have portrayed diverse sites: from Britain’s longest bridge, the pilgrimage island of Lough Derg, and an immense working quarry to the intimate space of an inner city garden.
Niamh has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. She has recently had a solo exhibition at Project Art Centre, Dublin. Her work is currently on show in Island: New Art from Ireland at Galleria Civica Modena, Italy and is in the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Hugh Lane Gallery, and the Arts Council of Ireland among others.
There will be a comprehensive education and events programme running alongside the project. This will include guided bus trips that will take visitors to all five venues in one day. Prior booking through participating venues is essential for the bus trips.
All five venues will devise specific access programmes for the exhibition during Culture Night.
A catalogue documenting Niamh’s practice with essays by Luke Gibbons and Matt Packer as well as a curator’s statement by Patrick T Murphy of the RHA, will be published to accompany the exhibitions.
This project is supported by Mayo County Council and The Arts Council.
