Irish artists - Bloodroot
In honour of St Brigid's Day, the Embassy of Ireland in The Hague is organising an exhibition around the work of Irish poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin and her poetry collection Bloodroot from 22 January 2025.
Curated by the Hamilton Gallery from Sligo, the exhibition includes paintings made by more than 100 women artists from the island of Ireland inspired by the poignant poetry in this collection of poems.
Bloodroot, published by Doire Press in 2017, explores the fragility and complexity of human relationships. Here, the question of what it means to ‘belong’ in the world comes up several times. Annemarie Ní Churreáin grew up in the north-west of Ireland between the Atlantic and a fraught political border. She brings this perspective of living in political tension on the one hand and being surrounded by natural beauty on the other to her poetry. Many of her poems live in parallel worlds, suggest dual ways of experiencing people, places and events, and often evoke the mystery of ‘in-between’ places.
In her poetry collection, Ní Churreáin also reflects on the lived experiences of women during some of the darkest periods in recent Irish history, including the legacy of the Mother and Baby Institutions run by religious orders from 1922 to 1998.
Highlighting the experiences of these women and children has led to a number of prominent works in recent years, including the upcoming film adaptation of Claire Keegan's novella Small Things Like These (Grove Press, 2021) starring Oscar-winner Cilian Murphy (known for his role in Oppenheimer).
Speaking about the exhibition, Irish ambassador to the Netherlands Ann Derwin said:
‘Our embassy is delighted to partner with Pulchri Studio and the Hamilton Gallery to host this impressive exhibition that celebrates the creativity of Irish women and the restorative power of both poetry and art on the occasion of St Brigid's Day.’