Home

Profile

Gaeilge

Exhibitions

Blog

Links

Contact

Tondo @ Drogheda Train Station         July 2010
Text Box: Back to “Tondo Exhibitions” Back to “Solo Exhibitions” STATEMENT I had 2 pieces in this exhibition : “Ghosts”, a series of 30 screen printed images, stuck to the windows of the old waiting room, and a small installation entitled : “Ghlaoigh mé arís ach freagra ní bhfuaireas...” ( I called again but no one answered ) - see below The MacBride Railway Station is a quiet place most of the time. But every once in a while, a train approaches and the whole atmosphere changes. Suddenly the place is bustling, passengers stepping off the train, friends and family greeting each other, suitcases, tickets, porters… and at the same time there are others getting onto the train, tearful goodbyes, the green flag, the whistle blows and the train pulls out and silence returns. So many stories… Sometimes we wait to begin a journey, sometimes we wait for a loved one to arrive. Maybe we wait in hope or maybe we wait in fear. Maybe we wait for someone who will never come. Waiting on the platform, one can only imagine all the people who passed this way before. This railway station was first built in 1844, just before the Great Famine in Ireland. How many people passed through here, hoping to escape to a better life in the New World? How many died in transit? The railway station also saw its share of conflict during the Civil War in 1922. Recently I have been painting the same image again and again – a soldier perhaps, returned from war, or a struggling father, unable to support his family. I decided to use this image again in the station, in memory of all those people who, for one reason or another, never came home.