Reflecting on events, memories and the traces of evidence left to us from times past, O Donoghue uses his family history to connect with and understand the wars that have shaped our histories; and reflects on the personal experiences of his grandfather Hugh O Donoghue in the First World War and his father, Daniel O’Donoghue, during the Second World War. From his richly painted surfaces emerge fragments from the archive of his past, entwined with the disturbing resonance of war.

Central to the exhibition is the sculpture A Distant Thunder, a reconstruction of a trench railway vehicle used to take injured men from the battlefields of World War I. The railway irons on which it runs carried the bodies of men from the battlefields of the Somme and Ypres. This work will be activated by a performance in the galleries at 3pm every day for the duration of the season.

Associated events:

Artists Talk
Sat 12th November, 3.30pm, Free
Artists talk with Hughie O'Donoghue

Memory & Commemoration
Fri 11th November, 11.30am, Free
Coffee morning and discussion with founders of Carlow's Military Museum

Image Credit: Crossing the Rapido VI: Painting Caserta Red ,2003, Oil on canvas in 3 panels, unframed: 366 x 736.5
Courtesy Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art.