O'Dowd explores the void

Sally O’Dowd’s work is probably the one from the Border Biennale exhibition that will resonate most strongly with the Cavan viewer.

The Killeshandra native, who now lives and works in Belfast, has a series of truly wonderful landscapes drawn in charcoal on huge sheets of paper as just one part of her contribution to the Townhall Arts Centre show.

Speaking to the Celt ahead of the opening of the exhibition she opts to discuss a sketch of a cattle shed, which has the title ‘Dark Space’.

She explains it “references the deep rural and a phrase that’s been in the ether a while, Nordie Noir”.

“It is outside Killeshandra, it’s a shed up Croghan, up on the hill beside the original ground of the O’Rourke’s clan,” she explains.

For many, farm sheds with their warm red hues can stand as a quaint reminder of home or summers of youth.

“It’s the language of the countryside,” agrees Sally with an obvious affection for the humble structure, “it’s the language of Cavan, the border, the borderlands. It is lovely, I agree with you, it’s kind of like an identifier isn’t it.

“I also love the rolling roof of it - it’s a distinctive shape: the curving, the softness of the galvanise,” she offers.

Drawn in black charcoal on white paper, Sally has scorched the usual warm tones from view, and there is an ambiguous air of menace.

“I’ve got it surrounded by the woodlands, the trees that are there, the hedge - there’s a kind of a slight vulnerability.

“The blackness,” she continues. “I was always curious about the darkness of that space in the middle of a shed. It’s a bit of a void.”

The drawing has a slash of light breaking through a gap for ventilation where the curved roof meets the wall. You may strain to see the details of what’s going on in there. Whatever it is remains just out of sight.

That ominous maw could bring to mind some gruesome murders that occurred not too far from here, or bomb making factories, maybe a place to stash a warm revolver or to pummel a tout. In short that ‘Dark Space’ Sally opens up opportunities for ‘Nordie Noir’ to play out.

Workshops

In conjunction with the biennale Sally is also running charcoal making workshops and drawing workshops with women’s groups in the beautiful setting of Florencecourt. To make the charcoal they use pieces of weeping beech - a non-native tree brought in centuries ago - found in the old estates of the local aristocracy.

Sally sees the value of the Border Biennale as a way to consider weighty issues in new, often light hearted ways.

“There’s the funny side to it, where it’s playing on the seriousness of biennales around the world and the art market. That’s a big part of it- the humour.

“But it’s also a contested ground, contested histories and an undercurrent. And it’s also still a big conversation for many about the partition of Ireland, and the way it stands.

“So it’s a contemporary subject to as well as an historic one. So I think it’s really relevant.”

The Border Biennale runs at Town Hall Arts Centre Cavan Town until Saturday, August 30.