Unfamiliar settings can so easily throw us

This week’s INM/Medihuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

Every day we see and hear about the devastation that Putin’s war is causing in Ukraine. People dying, people losing everything, millions being displaced. 

And it’s not only Putin’s war, people around the world are forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in safe havens for all sorts of reasons, mostly to do with conflict.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be removed from your environment in such agony and pain.

 

Even in our own familiar settings the smallest of changes can make us feel uneasy.

I was thinking about all that while travelling by rail from Dublin to Wexford last Sunday week to attend the lunch of an art exhibition in the town.

In spite of all the fabulous sea views there was something about the rail journey that was different for me. I simply did not feel at home on it as I do on my beloved Dublin Cork/Tralee line. Had it something to do with the fact that I was away from my familiar environment? 

Yes, there was an element of excitement about it, there was an adventure to it, a newness too. But for some reason or other I felt out of place. I felt something of a stranger and among strangers. I was thinking of all those who land on our shores away from their homes. I cannot imagine ever being able to do that. 

I know little or nothing about the visual arts but I can stand back and look at a painting or drawing, or any piece of art work and say whether or not I like it. I can allow my eyes to be pleased with what I see. I can relax looking at art.

I know two of the three artists who are exhibiting their work during the Wexford Opera Festival.

And again I was somewhat uneasy in a gallery filled with people I did not know, many of them with expertise in art.

 

Mary Moloney is a Dublin based artist whose work consists of two mediums, hand-cut paper collages featuring  mid-century inspired shapes  and colours, and abstract, original alcohol ink paintings, and prints. Patricia Keilthy, a Wexford native, was Head of Fashion at Limerick School of Art and Design, showed fashion illustrations in mediums consisting of pastel drawings, watercolour paintings, and digitally produced pieces, and prints. Jean Ffrench, a well established Wexford artist, exhibited wonderful paintings of various subjects, in exuberant colour palettes.

After an initial nervousness and that feeling of being out of place lifted and I was able to feast my eyes on all the different works and styles, to chat with people and listen to their take on the art.

The exhibition at 95 South Main Street runs until Sunday, November 6.

Creative work can help us in moments of pain and desperation. It can rid us of our loneliness and that feeling of not belonging.

I hope those who arrive on our shores will get the opportunity to realise their talents and feel at home in this wonderful country of ours. We in turn can learn so much from them. And guess what, a kind word never goes astray. A pleasant greeting in a strange place can do wonders.