Carrying the Songs

Carrying the Songs is an international exhibition featuring around 200 new paintings by artists from the Netherlands and Ireland. The exhibition is a collaboration between Pulchri Studio, the Irish Embassy in the Netherlands and Hamilton Gallery in Sligo.

Inspiration from a poem

The exhibition is inspired by the poem of the same name by the Irish poet Moya Cannon. The poem is about the music and songs that people carry with them when they are forced to leave their homes or their homeland. Themes such as loss, memory and resilience are central to the exhibition.

Cultural exchange

Carrying the Songs brings together artists from the Netherlands and Ireland in a cultural exchange. The exhibition shows how a shared theme can lead to different artistic interpretations.

Hamilton Gallery has been organising international exhibitions in collaboration with Irish embassies for many years. Previous exhibitions have been held in cities including London, Berlin, Dublin, New York and Beijing. In 2025, Pulchri Studio also presented the exhibition Bloodroot, featuring work by 125 Irish female artists.