Exhibition focusing on resilience of West Cork islanders to open this weekend

A NEW exhibition by a Bere Island artist giving an insight into the reality of island life, which can often be obscured by romanticised notions, will open at the West Cork arts centre Uillinn, in Skibbereen, on Saturday. 

‘From the Inside Out and the Outside In’ is the title of Mary Sullivan’s new body of work, and the exhibition, which includes sculptures, video, and drawings, started as a direct response to observations of the community of Bere Island during the initial covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

The work focuses on the fragility of the island people, while at the same time highlighting their strength and resilience, and is set against the backdrop of the artist’s previous work around gendered labour, female narratives, and the military sites on Bere Island.

Mary described her latest exhibition as a reflection on the “realities of island life”, which urban dwellers often imagine as escapes from the hustle and bustle of life in cities and towns on the mainland.

“For island dwellers, the experience extends far beyond the safety net that comes with being enclosed by the sea,” she said.

“Importantly within this context, isolation, which is typically associated with vulnerability or a lack of safety, is translated into strength through preparation, communication, and exchange.

“Through sculpture, performance, video, and drawing, From the Inside Out and the Outside In represents the strength of island networks at a time of extreme social isolation and fragmentation,” she said.

“It seeks to draw out the tension between transparency and opacity that has historically structured mainland / island relations, capturing the ebb and flow of its journeys on its way.”

Ms Sullivan said these characteristics were thrown into sharp relief in 2020 when the world was stricken by fear and chaos at the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic, adding that preparing for emergencies and unpredictability was “part and parcel of island life”.