April: And What Do We Want?

What Do We Want is a four person exhibition which opened at the Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin earlier this month. It featured yours truly, Jill Gibbon, Eoin MacLoughlin and Tom Molloy. Each of us showed work which reflected our own responses to the current political and environmental crisis now facing the world. What do we want? This phrase is associated with the call and response of protest marches and demonstrations. So, what do we want? Peace? Equal Rights? An end to genocide? The promise of a better future? When do we want it? Yesterday, because 'now' is already too late for many. Collectively, the work in this exhibition addresses the corrupt facade of international arms fairs,  the legacy of historical conflict on a divided island, the surreal impossibility of war ever ending (and of distinguishing between all their horrors) and the irony that fighting wars is futile without a plant to fight them on. What else do we want? An end to the current insanity but when was the last time the world was sane? What power do we have left but protest and the possibility that by working through all these troubles, we might arrive in a better place. To get there, we need better people, with less power. When did we need it? One hundred years ago, seven months ago, yesterday and tomorrow.
Clockwise from top left: Gail Ritchie, Doomsday Series; Jill Gibbon, Woman with missile, sketch drawn at an international arms fair; Eoin MacLoughlin, Wall of Tears (installation); Tom Molloy , Contact. The exhibition runs at the Olivier Cornet Gallery Dublin until  31 May 2024.