A new exhibition from local artist Pádraic Reaney is only display at NUIG with the beauty of Inishark there for all to see.
Inis Airc exhibition displays 23 paintings and graphics that capture the changing form of Inishark as evidence of the people that once called it home fades away.
The island off the west coast of Galway, which once supported a community of more than 200 people, has lain abandoned since 1960.
A Carraroe native, Pádraic Reaney studied Fine Art and now lives and works in Moycullen. His art has been displayed nationally and internationally, with collections in Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University, USA; Siena Art Institute, Italy; and Urawa Wood-Cut Prints Association, Japan.
Since 2002 Pádraic has visited Inishark regularly, making studies in watercolour and drawing dilapidating houses and farmsteads, as all evidence of human impact fades away.
His oil paintings and graphics viscerally enliven these spaces once again in a blending of colour, physical landscape, and remnants of fishing communities.
This exhibition challenges the viewer to consider the history of our islands, and to critically examine the larger rural decline.
Inis Airc is now open in NUI Galway’s Hardiman Research Building, where it will remain on display until May 28.
The exhibition is hosted by the University’s Moore Institute and funded by the Discipline of Geography for the 7th EUGEO Congress international conference.
