Rita: ‘Art is the thing that is most hopeful’

Veteran Northern Irish artist Rita Duffy is bringing her Persistent Illusion exhibition to Cork soon.

Known for her acerbic political commentary in works such as ‘The Raft Project’ in this exhibition, Rita focuses her gaze on migration and climate change in a series of exciting works that form the backbone of her first solo exhibition in the Crawford Art Gallery.

Duffy’s new triptych of paintings, 'Epiphany', 'Belfast to Byzantium' and 'Ornithopter', grapple with the grotesquery of a world of socio-economic divisions against the backdrop of climate change and migration.

Duffy holds a mirror up to the current state of world affairs, and yet she believes not all is bleak: art and creative thinking are our hope for the future, she said.

She added: “I think art is the thing that is the most hopeful. There is a sense of cataclysm all around us and that’s where art’s role becomes more and more important.”

An artist known for her Northern Irish roots and her pervasive interest in social justice, she said identifying herself as nationalist in the context of the climate crisis is problematic, even as a large political shift is underway in her native Northern Ireland.

She said: “There is only one issue we need to be urgently addressing and that’s climate change.

“We’re coming into a post nationalist state, because it doesn’t matter what your nationality is or where you’re from. If you don’t have clean water to drink or a safe place to live, waving a flag is not going to make any difference to you.”

Mary McCarthy, Director of Crawford Art Gallery said: “Duffy’s work is relevant, pertinent and visually arresting. We hope our visitors will be inspired and engaged by her rich visual imagery”.

Persistent Illusion by Rita Duffy is in the Gibson Galleries at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork city from 10 June-8 October.