Ag Fanacht (Waiting)

Oil on canvas, 46 x 75 cm.

My recent work explores the residual materiality of objects ritually deposited during ritual grief practices at holy wells. I am intrigued by these tokens of enduring remembrance that change and decay over time. My paintings offer a nuanced reflection on mortality, decay, hope, lasting memory and love. Weathered religious statuary take on a subversive air when juxtaposed with modern devotional objects. Who left it there? On whose behalf? For what intercession? Was there healing, or tragic loss?
This Mother and Child was choked with a cowl of rosary beads and offerings. It brought to mind 'women's work', love labour, the exhaustion of motherhood.