Betwixt and Between, 2015, The Courthouse Arts Centre, Wicklow, Ireland.

“Kiera’s practice in this show demonstrates a considered pursuit of drawing across media and materials, each form sharing a particular intimacy and a persuasive intensity.”
Dr. Brian Fay, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, School of Art and Design, Technological University Dublin

"Using graveyards in Wicklow and in Sligo as historical and cultural sites, O’Toole’s research project outcomes culminate in this exhibition. The exhibition creates a space where drawing reaches back and forward between times past, present, and future to express new lines of being Irish."

Jenny Sherwin,
Wicklow County Arts Officer

The catalyst for this exhibition was an invitation from archaeologist Yvonne Whitty in 2014 to take rubbings of headstones for The Story of Preban Graveyard project in Tinahely, County Wicklow. Funded by the Heritage Council, the archaeological project documented this ancient site, which features the remains of an enclosed early medieval church or monastic settlement, Neolithic rock art (c. 4000–2500 BC) discovered by archaeologist Chris Corlett, and intricately carved slate headstones by 18th-century stone mason Denis Cullen of Monaseed.

Using Preban as a point of departure, I expanded my research into the emblematic and ambiguous imagery found in graveyards and ancient burial sites across Wicklow and Sligo. These spaces reveal a layered confluence of megalithic, pagan, famine, Catholic, and Protestant histories, where diverse cultural narratives converge.

The drawings in this exhibition embody a presence of self and act as contemplative spaces to pose the question: can these markers of individuals, societies, and cultures serve as thresholds for exploring the authorship of spirituality in contemporary Ireland, particularly within an increasingly secular age?

By engaging with these publicly private sacred spaces, the exhibition also offers a quiet reflection on mortality—suggesting that in speaking of death, we inevitably reflect on life.

Betwixt and Between, 2015 
charcoal and graphite on incised archival paper, 122cm x 189cm.