AN exhibition celebrating the work done by staff at Bantry General Hospital and the community it serves will open on Friday August 29th at Marino Church.
The project is sponsored by Friends of Bantry Hospital and features a series of paintings by artist Carin Mac Cana. The display will be officially opened at 7pm by Prof Paul Finucane.
The artist behind the paintings said the idea for the project came about as a result of discussions and collaborations with the staff and patients at the West Cork hospital.
‘I have been working as a professional artist since graduating
from Crawford College of Art in 1989,’ said Carin. ‘For a long time, my work was abstract in nature, but since I did a series of paintings of my elderly mother dealing with her place in the family, I have become interested in figurative work again.
‘This led to a desire to search for new ways to create work that include public engagement.’
The project consists of a series of paintings depicting the staff and some patients at the hospital.
Carin explained: ‘They are not intended to be traditional portraits, instead showing a wide representation of staff in their working environment; in clinics, on rounds, in labs, offices, corridors and kitchens.
‘I am donating the paintings to the hospital and I hope is it will be seen as a documentation and a celebration of all the hard work done by a wide representation of staff there, from porters to paramedics, from kitchen staff to ambulance drivers, nurses, doctors, receptionists, physio therapists and so on.’
The series will be on show at the newly renovated Marino Church in Bantry from August 29th for one week only. It will then be moved up to the hospital.
Carin thanked Friends of Bantry Hospital for supporting the project and Diarmuid Murphy for the use of Marino Church.
