..one touch of nature makes the whole world kin… | Bernadette Kiely at Taylor Galleries Online
The line “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin” is taken from Ulysses’ famous speech in William Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida.
It is often used to refer to fellow feeling and comradeship in the face of calamitous events.
Continuing with Bernadette Kiely’s theme of mapping the changing landscape and the passage of time the exhibition includes paintings depicting flooding on the river Nore and on the Suir. Included also are paintings referencing wildfires, a theme she first explored in the late ‘90’s. The exhibition also includes a series of small paintings made in response to her nightly walks around the deserted streets of Thomastown where she lives. Here the presence of absence is most palpable.
Flooding, wildfires and pandemics are all events which affect not only the landscape but human lives in a way that cannot be controlled by human forces. As has been evident during the current lockdown physical distancing has given rise to a movement of fellow feeling and comradeship in the face of a global pandemic.
TAYLOR Galleries ONLINE. May 28th – June 20, 2020