Laura O’Hagan is one of the artists exhibiting in ‘Sculpture in Context’, the annual exhibition of indoor and outdoor sculpture that runs this year in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, from 4 September to 17 October. Her piece, Winter Flowers, was inspired by a residency in China and is made of hundreds of white porcelain flowers that seem to grow from a rough bed of raw clay. ‘In China the little white flowers were so delicate and pure, but they showed their toughness by surviving the harsh winter. I thought the Chinese people were like that too,’ O’Hagan said. Other pieces include Brigitta Seck’s suspended nest-like sculpture in mixed media, Childhood is a faraway place, it is where I’m from, and John Kelly’s ceramic Village, an atmospheric and desolate piece made infinitely more powerful by its context. The strength of ‘Sculpture in Context’ is that it removes sculpture from the formality of the gallery setting, positioning it around the gardens, in glasshouses, greenhouses, ponds and foliage, thus making it both more accessible and more interesting. This year’s exhibition launched a New Ireland Assurance Sculpture Award, which was awarded to Blessing Sanyanga for his sculpture ‘Nomadic Family’.
Sculpture in Context: National Botanic Gardens
Image: Laura O’Hagan
4 September – 17 October
