Ballina exhibition is inspired by the poetry of Paul Durcan

An art exhibition inspired by the work of a poet with deep Mayo roots will launch this Friday.

The exhibition, titled ‘Golden Mothers Driving West’, is inspired by the work of the great Paul Durcan. It is a collaboration between Swiss/French artist Emmanuel Matt, who moved to his wife’s native Ireland in 2021, and local artist Michael O’Boyle, and the exhibition will launch at Ballina Library this Friday evening. It runs until April 22.

Emmanuel spoke to the Western People last week about how Durcan, who turned 80 recently, and his work inspired the exhibition.

“My friend Niall MacMonagle gave me a copy of a book of Paul Durcan’s poems and I was shocked how attuned it is to our time, specifically the anxiety and the questions of our time.

“We wanted to find poetry that would inspire us and Paul Durcan came naturally. The way he writes is so shocking and strong. I felt a resonance in these poems where Paul talks about these ‘echoes of the past’ through our daily life here in Ireland.” 

Emmanuel’s work with Michael O’Boyle is a new approach for him, as he has not worked collaboratively before. However, this is a collaboration more in the sense of working with similar insiprations.

“We worked separately and our work came out very different. If you read a poem of Paul Durcan's, you might have a totally different interpretation than I did.

“It’s collaborative in the sense that we ended up in the same space with the same poems but it was a different path and a different approach. I never done collaborative work, it has always been me and myself toiling away. So this was a new thing for me. Being in a new place, it is a good way to come to understand the cultural life in Ballina. Michael has been around a long time and he knows this place so well.” 

Te opening event takes place this Friday, April 4, at 6.30pm in Ballina Library and attendees will be invited to read Durcan's poems.