Turning Point exhibition in Limerick

LIMERICK Printmakers’ Studio and Gallery are hosting Turning Point, an exhibition of work by Martina Cleary, which has previously been on show at Glór in Ennis.
The show was officially opened by Breda Lynch, artist, lecturer and curator recently and will continue until August 9.
Speaking about the work, Ms Cleary said, “The work presented at Limerick Printmakers’ Studio and Gallery is part of an extended project carried out during the period 2008-11, supported by the Create Phase 1-Artist in the Community Scheme and the Irish Arts Council.
“The works are tableau vivant in style, using the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone as a metaphorical device to address the psychodynamic of recovery from abuse.
“While earlier work in this project was of a more documentary nature, the decision to use this allegory as a starting point came from a need to preserve anonymity, to offer cohesion or potential for meaning in events that often seem to have none.
“The work was inspired by real stories and accounts gathered through individual interviews, particularly responses given to the question ‘what was the turning point for you?’,” she explained.
Ms Cleary attended the National College of Art and Design and the Crawford College of Art and Design, followed by post-graduate studies at the Finnish academy of Fine Arts and the University of Art and Design in Helsinki.
Beginning in the early ’90s, her work has been shown and collected in Ireland, Finland and Germany. She has exhibited extensively and alongside her work as an artist, she is also head of photography at the Burren College of Art, as well as being associate tutor in the Department of Print at Cardiff School of Art and Design.