West Cork group hungry to see prestigious famine exhibition

A CONTINGENT from West Cork travelled to the capital last week for the official opening of the prestigious ‘Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger’ exhibition at Dublin Castle.

The chairperson of the board of the West Cork Arts Centre, Cyril Thornton and his wife, Catherine, were in attendance, as were other members of the board including John and Bernadette Hegarty, Morgan and Ciara O’Driscoll, Seán and Rose O’Driscoll, Sharon and Michael Walsh, Aisling Roche, Alan and Finola Byrne, Declan and Brigid Tiernan, and John and Christina Kelly.

Many took the opportunity to pose for photographs with President Michael D Higgins, who said it was an honour to open the exhibition of rare and wonderful pieces from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at the Quinnipiac University, in Connecticut, USA.

The exhibition, which will open at the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen on Thursday, July 19th next, includes work by Irish and Irish American artists of the past 170 years such as Daniel Macdonald, Paul Henry, Jack B Yeats, William Crozier, Hughie O’Donoghue, Dorothy Cross and Alanna O’Kelly.

The exhibition, both here and in Dublin, also ties in with a diverse programme of performances, talks, lectures and events.