Mary O’Malley
Setting
Saldanha Gallery | Fort Dunree | 27th June – 26th July
Opening reception Saturday 27th June 18:00 – 20:00
Setting is an exhibition of new work by Irish-American ceramic artist Mary O’Malley. Originally from New York, and currently based in Macon, Georgia, in the Southeastern United States, Mary O’Malley is Assistant Professor of Art at Mercer University. She was educated at the Royal College of Art in London and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has exhibited internationally, including at the Saatchi Gallery, Christie’s, and the British Ceramics Biennial. Her work is held in collections worldwide.
Created over the course of more than a year, Setting is an ambitious installation that explores ideas of place, history, transformation and time. Through sculptural ceramic bricks, bees, butterflies and a striking gold disc, Mary invites viewers to reflect on the systems, structures and stories that shape our world, and how they change over time.
The exhibition was inspired by O’Malley’s time at Fort Dunree, where the landscape, military architecture and visible signs of erosion and repair sparked an interest in the idea of “arrested decay” – the attempt to preserve something at the edge of ruin.
Mary created the work in her American studio before transporting it across the Atlantic to Donegal. The exhibition draws connections between two places shaped by history, landscape and the lasting impact of empire.
