Visual Art Online: Róisín Ní Neachtain’s The Conversion of Prayers to Fears

In 2022, the self-taught artist Róisín Ní Neachtain was awarded a Mentoring Award to work with Brian Maguire through the Arts and Disability Connect Scheme, funded by the Arts Council and managed by Arts & Disability Ireland.

Róisín is now running an online exhibition featuring paintings and iPad drawings executed during the mentorship and since.

The exhibition is available to view now at prayerstofears.com, and you can explore Róisín’s earlier work at roisinnineachtain.com.

‘At a time of huge upheaval, trauma and loss (the rise of right-wing politics, Trump, Brexit, Covid, the Ukrainian War etc…) I am primarily concerned with existential threat, the problem of human existence, the questioning of its value and freedom during a time of conflict. I am hoping to develop and explore themes of alienation, absurdity and nihilism – to reflect on human suffering and isolation.’

‘I often depict heads or semi-abstract figures in an an abstract world. The focus on the head was largely inspired by Le Brocquy and the Celtic preoccupation and “veneration of the head as the seat of the soul”.

‘Like the Celts I tend to regard the head as this magic box containing the spirit. Enter that box, enter behind that billowing curtain of the face, and you have the whole landscape of the spirit.’

Róisín’s early work related mainly to environmental concerns and to Irish literature – this was the subject of her solo exhibition at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in 2022.

Please note: This exhibition deals with themes of war and as such features representations of swastikas.

The exhibition will remain online until 31st March 2024 at prayerstofears.com