Thursday 7 September 2017 – Sunday 29 October
Triskel Arts Centre, Cork

The Yellow River is a joint exhibition by painter Seán McSweeney and poet Gerard Smyth responding to The Yellow River area in Co. Meath which unites their personal histories.

The Yellow River is a tributary of the Blackwater (Kells), which joins the Boyne at Navan, County Meath that unites the personal histories of poet Gerard Smyth and artist Seán McSweeney. Gerard Smyth spent many summers in Meath staying with his grandmother and an aunt, whilst originally Seán McSweeney’s family lived in Clongill until the untimely death of his father.

Over the last two years Gerard Smyth has been revisiting Meath in further inquiry with Belinda Quirke, Director of Solstice, in the development of a new suite of poems, recollecting and revisiting significant sites of occurrence in the poet’s and county’s history. Seán McSweeney has created new work from recent trips to his original home place and the county. McSweeney here responds lyrically to particular sites of Smyth’s poetry, whilst also depicting in watercolour, ink, tempera and drawing, the particular hues of The Royal County.

A publication ‘The Yellow River’ accompanies the exhibition, on-sale at Triskel Arts Centre for €20 through Triskel Box Office.

The exhibition was curated by Belinda Quirke and Seán Mc Sweeney, originally for Solstice Arts Centre, Co Meath. The current exhibition is a re-curation for the Triskel Christchurch Space.