Into the Twilight – the Landscape of WB Yeats.

Photography exhibition to launch new collection on landscape that inspired W.B. Yeats

Exhibition at Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo,  9th – 22nd March.

Opens 6pm Wednesday 11th March.

Landscape photographer Ciarán McHugh will be exhibiting a new collection of black and white panoramic images inspired by the physical landscape embodied in the writing of Nobel Laureate WB. Yeats.   The exhibit celebrates Yeats 2015 and is one of the first photographic collections inspired directly by the natural environment in which the poet immersed himself in.  Following its launch at the Hyde Bridge Galley in the Yeats Building in Sligo, the collection will then tour to a number of locations over the year including a summer exhibit at Lissadell House.

The collection is described by Ciarán as “A set of photographic images focusing on light, tone, form, nuance and texture inspired by a poetical landscape exuding the sensual, the mystical, the wild and intrigue.  A unique collection of photographs which allows you refocus on the familiar landscapes we are immersed in and take a fresh look at the different interconnected worlds around us”.

A dominant feature throughout much of Yeats’s writing is his belief that we all inhabit a reality that is made up of two different but interconnected worlds, the one we live in and the world beyond our understanding.  This other world is beyond the grasp of most humans and is free of the limitations of our mortal world.  It is the world of Faeries, the Good People, the Sidhe, the Tuatha De Danann.  It is a world which over time we have lost the capacity to see but one which can be revealed if we learn how to look.

Yeats’s verse pays homage to the natural beauty of Ireland’s landscape but much of the body of his poems evokes this otherworld. It is his skill as a writer which allows him to guide us from one world to the other and back again by bestowing a mystical sense to real landscapes.

When asked what inspired the collection McHugh commented “Living Under bare Ben Bulben's head puts you right at the heart of all things Yeats. His presence is everywhere.  With this collection I aim to capture the landscapes he identified with in a way which evokes this sense of otherworld in writings.” 

 “As we go about our busy lives we can become detached from the enchanting beauty of our surroundings.  Sometimes we need to reset and learn how to look again. I hope this collection of photographs can in a small way help people refocus on the familiar landscapes we are immersed in and take a fresh look at the different interconnected worlds around us.”

Ciarán McHugh lives in Carney in North Co. Sligo. His photography is focused on the landscapes of the West of Ireland.  In 2014 a portfolio of his work was selected by The Irish in Europe Association for inclusion in an exhibition to promote Sligo in the Halles Saint-Gery in Brussels.  In 2012 Ciarán collaborated with US author E. Ashley Rooney to produce a book entitled ‘Ireland's Ghosts, Legends, and Lore’.  He is also a member of the Made in Sligo craft group.

Further details from Ciarán McHugh Photography

Email mail@ciaranmchugh.com

Web: www.ciaranmchugh.com 

 

 

 
Cummen Strand by Ciaran McHugh

 

 

 

 

 

 

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