About

Rooted in personal experience, this exhibition draws connections between language, culture and selfhood. The paintings visualise the aftermath of genealogical research and an emotional response to discovering a hidden familial history. Themes of identity and cultural belonging are explored through symbolic overlaying as processes include building layers of paint and marks to suggest time, generational memory, and obfuscation.
Text, asemic writing and backwards writing introduce the concept of familial secrecy, while feelings of disorientation are implied by the distortion of figurative elements that

'Although questions are still unanswered, I feel that by sharing this work publicly I am, to some extent, shedding the cloak of secrecy that has affected past generations of my family for decades'.
BIO
Bio Maryann Curran is an Irish visual artist who works primarily in paint and whose practice explores identity and inherited emotion. After a successful career in art education, advocating for and promoting the discipline, she returned to full time practice in 2018. Her recent work uses the materiality of expressive, layered media to explore psychological landscapes shaped by personal experience and memory. She is currently developing new work that delves into family history, personal revelations and cultural identity through text, colour and gesture.

Seoladh/launch
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich
12/03/2026: 7-9m