Windows into the past
AN EXHIBITION ‘Nature and Nurture’ by the artist Esther O’Kelly is opening in Coast hotel in Rosslare Strand on October 26, continuing until November 24.
Esther is inspired by natural voices and the place called home, the stories that it holds, old and new and the raw and beautiful way it shares them - peeled paint, gorse and thrift, framed by dancing light and brooding sea.
‘My paintings speak of fleeting scenes that connect me to my upbringing in Rosslare, recollections to remind me of family, friends, influences and the native environment’, said Esther.
‘The work makes connections from the present as we travel back through fragments of the past, a non-linear journey in a series of dreamlike states that ebb and flow with the consciousness. I see my work as a set of emotional triggers or a visual springboard into the past, changing with age and layered with voices and stories all eager to be heard – childhood laughs, larks and loves that move in and out of memory.’
‘I want to convey the thrill of accessing a treasure trove of memories. Something that may begin as depictions of an event or place take on a life of their own. Houses and walkways are painted over but the imprint remains visible, creating an archaeology beneath the painted surface. Shining moments peek through and transport us away from our current time.’
Esther said she recreates these scenes to celebrate the stories that make us Irish and the Ireland that makes our stories.
They are an invitation for people to return to their own memories and revisit their own experience. ‘I feel that having these windows into our past is a way for us to reconnect with a sense of who we are’.