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Recollect is an exhibition by artist Noelle Gallagher on display at University Hospital Galway until 4 July. The exhibition can be found on the Arts Corridor and features new and recent works including a series of artworks produced in response to a residency in Powerscourt Townhouse in Dublin. Also included is a series of paintings depicting Earlsfort Terrace, a place close to many University Hospital Galway’ s medical staff hearts, who studied in UCD.
Through her arts practice Noelle Gallagher explores architectural space. A residency in Powerscourt Townhouse prompted the development of a collection of works in response to the history and fabric of that building. The Earlsfort series evolved because of a personal connection with the place, having studied there in the past. Her visits to Earlsfort Terrace were triggered by a curiosity as to how the spaces had reinvented themselves since UCD’s move to the suburbs at Belfield. The high ceilings of the former dissection room at Earlsfort which were designed to limit exposure to formaldehyde and the smells of the mortuary, now provide interesting acoustics for musicians of the National Concert Hall who rehearse in the space.
Noelle Gallagher states: “In order to examine the discord between the present-day spaces at Earlsfort and Powerscourt and their rich social history, I have chosen a visual language that works with the tension between the fixity of torn digital prints, and the chance movement of fluid oil paint. I feed the viewer’s hunger for recognizable imagery, yet also challenge them to see paint as just random marks on a surface as I merge the real, the imagined, and the recollected in my work.”
Margaret Flannery, Arts Director at GUH said, “Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is delighted to host this exhibition on the Arts Corridor where patients and staff have an opportunity to engage with the work. This exhibition gives many of our staff an opportunity to reminisce about student days, recalling student life, the history and architecture of the building while appreciating the artist’s skill in merging the real with the imaginary.”
Noelle Gallagher graduated with an honours degree in Fine Art (Paint) in 2011 from the Centre for Creative Arts and Media, GMIT, Galway, and has since exhibited in numerous group shows in Ireland including Tulca, Éigse, and the Claremorris Open. In 2015 she was a finalist in the international biennial neo:artprize’15 exhibition, Bolton, UK and was selected for The Open West Exhibition, Cheltenham, UK. She is a recipient of the Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award from the Burren College of Art and 126, and has been awarded an Individual Artists Bursary from Galway County Council in 2014 and 2016.
For further information on the artist, artwork or sales contact Galway University Hospital Arts Trust at 091-544979 or email guhartstrust@hse.ie
