Kiera O'Toole - Romantic Ireland is Dead and Gone

Romantic Ireland is Dead and Gone
Kiera O'Toole



"Romantic Ireland is Dead and Gone" - a series of framed drawings in ink and charcoal - deals with migration and cultural identity, particularly in relation to Ireland. The exhibition discusses these issues in a couple of different ways - through the personal and emotional experiences of migration, and what it means to leave one's country behind for another; and through a cultural and historical critique of the country itself, what it was and what it now is, and how much of it's identity has been left behind thanks to economic change. While initially it might seem as though these are two separate subjects, they actually come together to mean much of the same thing, with a general feeling of loss, of displacement, or of distance, be it through the actual physical removal of a person from their country, or the removal of a group of people from a culture that once was. Ireland is gone, Ireland is being left behind.

The images themselves depict thin, dark figures against stark white backgrounds, sometimes in groups, sometimes alone, but always with a look of solitude about them. My initial impression was of an abstracted figure, designed not to depict any thing in particular, but rather an emotion. More interesting was my mother's impression of them being human figures, whittled down by famine, a reference to Ireland's dark history. They are, actually, bluebottle jellyfish - a creature Kiera describes as alien in the Irish imagination, but representative of the migrant experience, as they are never certain what space they occupy. While they find themselves washed onto Australian shores, they essentially remain an animal with no real sense of belonging to any one place.

"Romantic Ireland is Dead and Gone" is on at the Gosford Regional Gallery now, and runs until the 5th of December 2007.

review by Fiona Doyle

The Journal's Journey

I just received and posted off the journal, and took some snaps of how it's progressing so far... it still has a while to go before it's filled, so I have a feeling we'll still be passing it around come 2008...

Liz Wright





Betty Saez






Sharyn Walker




Fiona Doyle

The Space Between Words

In February of this year, several eO members partook in an event run by Browns Cows Art Projects in Gosford CBD, entitled the space between words. A local video documentary team produced a DVD of the event, which incorporated LED light text and performance pieces from a few different artists. Below are some screencaptures taken from the DVD of artists during their performances...



Betty Saez


Neil Berecry Brown


Fiona Doyle and Lisa Doyle


Sharyn Walker and Jieon Lee


More details (and images) of the event can be found at Backpage

Fredrika Runeberg

Fiona Doyle


FREDRIKA RUNEBERG - WOMAN FOR HER TIME AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST (1807-1879)

Fredrika Runeberg, née Tengström, is known for being the wife of Finnish national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, but she was also one of the most accomplished women
of her time. In addition to being an author, she is considered to be the first female newspaper reporter in Finland. In Porvoo, she established a women's association and a school for destitute girls, also writing opinion pieces about women's issues, art and language issues.

The year 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of Fredrika Runeberg's birth, wich Porvoo will celebrate by holding celebrations on Runeberg Day, February 5, and her birthday, September 2. An exhibition opens at the Home of J.L. Runeberg Museum in late spring, running until the end of 2007. Link

eO members are proud to be a part of the Kvinna!Nainen!Woman! the theme being 'self portrait':

'The idea is to gather self-portraits from women from all over the world, independent of nationality, language, age, or (arts-) education and show these in an exciting and, for Pargas, different exhibition, that celebrates diversity and shows different approaches to art. For this reason, all entrants will be accepted. Some of the artworks will be selected and hung in a ‘traditional’ way, while others will become part of a strong installation that will fill one (or more) of the gallery spaces. The hanging of works will be handled in an indiscriminative way; the work of professional artists will not be prioritized to the works of so called ‘amateur artists’. ' Sandra Nyberg (Curator).