The Blackwater — Whispering Current to be exhibited 2nd- 31st December 2025 Arts and Visitors Centre, Hill of the O’ Neill

Artist Statement

Solo Exhibition Blackwater – Whispering Currents

The second chapter of The Blackwater series deepens its meditation on memory, place, and the shifting nature of identity. Through water, light, and atmosphere, figures surface and dissolve in dreamlike spaces where boundaries blur—body and landscape, self and memory. Motifs of thread, roots, and fish anchor meaning amid quiet transformation.

My paintings draw from the River Blackwater and the troubled waters of Lough Neagh, beginning with reflections and fragments at the river’s edge. From these emerge spectral guardians, root-born forms, and boats woven from memory—images where ecological crisis, myth, and personal observation converge.

The river becomes a threshold: between land and water, reality and dream, decay and renewal. Figures linger in suspension, rendered with luminous ambiguity, evoking ritual and remembrance. This work invites contemplation of identity as fluid, shaped by time and unseen forces.

Recent pieces respond to Lough Neagh’s toxic blooms—a presence that feels sentient, infiltrating memory and emotion. Here, contamination becomes metaphor: how we absorb and adapt to a world in flux. Whispering Currents offers both intimate reflection and a wider meditation on environmental precarity, creating a space where vulnerability becomes recognition and reverence.