The Subversive Stitch
Wed 30 Oct 2024 — Sat 25 Jan 2025
Ground Floor Gallery
This body of work derives from a series of photographic images commissioned by Fingal County Council to illustrate their new Arts Plan for 2006-2010.
The cultural life in Fingal is rich and diverse, it has the youngest profile population in Ireland and through the hard work and dedication of the Arts Office, with the development of this new plan, we can be assured that this rich culture will thrive and improve the lives of the people they set out to serve.
Dianne Whyte is a photographic artist based in Dublin.
"I was commissioned by Fingal County Council to illustrate the breadth and diversity of their art activities and the activities of their funding recipients. By undertaking this commitment I was given the opportunity to create a body of work that not only illustrated the Fingal Arts Plan but also provided the foundation for a solo exhibition. This project gave me the opportunity to travel throughout Fingal and visit a variety of schools, theatres, artists' studios and cultural centres. I witnessed how the effect of cultural activities were enriching the lives of people in so many ways. The artist in residence scheme has opened the eyes of children to the way creativity can be expressed in a variety of ways. I visited artists studios where the works are dreamed, planned and created, I spent time with international theatre companies as they rehearsed for Spreacha and the list goes on. This was a very rewarding experience and brought to my awareness all the hard work that goes on 'behind closed door' in order to bring a rich cultural experience to the growing population of the Fingal area." Dianne Whyte
"Fingal has emerged with a first-rate, significant body of work. Whyte's photographs, made with a medium-format camera, have a poised, studied presence. In her views of internal and external places there are, as she says, no people, but in each case we are made aware that what we see is the focus for intense activity. What Whyte has ingeniously done is to provide us with a sense of cultural activities as spaces of possibility. To over-simplify it somewhat, you could say that we are invited to inhabit each scene, to take to the stage in Draíocht's theatre, for example. The dense accumulation of materials, tools and sheer stuff in sculptor Vincent Browne's studio is an irresistible invitation to make something. Each image is like a breathing space, a moment between spells of intense activity, and each is also quite beautiful." - Aidan Dunne
"The resulting body of work is testament not only to the wide variety of cultural activity taking place in Fingal, but is also evidence of the emergence of an artist with huge talent. Dianne has used photography, not only as a tool to record a time and place, she has through the use of long exposures, skillful composition and use of colour, managed to make images which excite the eye and capture the attention of the viewer. I feel that the photographs in this exhibition will live long in the imagination of those who see them."
Rory O'Byrne, Arts Officer, Fingal County Council
Amharc Fhine Gall supports ambitious new artworks from Fingal artists at all stages of their career. The exhibition was initiated in 2004 by Fingal County Council Arts Office to celebrate the wealth of artistic talent in the county.
