Lucy Mckenna: A Dormant Light Resides in the Eye

20 August – 22 October

Curated by Brenda McParland

“Synaesthesia is the mental, and sometimes physical, sensory association of sounds, shapes, tastes, numbers, words, times of the year or days of the week with colour. For me, it shows up as coloured letters and numbers. It has always been that way and the colours are constant. I use this superpower as shorthand or sometimes a memory aid.” – Lucy McKenna

Solstice is delighted to present Lucy McKenna’s largest solo exhibition in Ireland. The exhibition title A Dormant Light Resides in The Eye comes from the book ‘Bright Colors Falsely Seen’ [Dann, 1998] which navigates the interesting history of synaesthesia up until the modern day. The quotation ‘a dormant light resides in the eye’ comes directly from German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the late 1700’s, believing that the eye owed its existence to light.

McKenna’s practice is multidisciplinary and explores communication and language, as well as involving research about the universe, and comprehending our place in it. This exhibition comprises a new body of work including drawing, painting, photography, sculptural acrylic and light installations. McKenna developed a new interest in plants and gardening recently, as the world changed tempo and shifted focus. The process of planting, curating by colour, texture, size and time has inspired a new body of photographic works which are featured in the exhibition.