“Paths and tracks made over time by the wishes and feet of walkers especially those paths that run contrary to design or planning – free will ways”
Robert McFarlane
Artist Statement:
“There is something that the sea has, or does, or is, that forever attracts the human spirit. It is the ultimate shapeshifter, always different – grey, calm, crashing, playful, or shining like a diamond. This is where it all started for me, with a path to the sea becoming my first inspiration for the exhibition.
One day on Rathmullan beach, a friend called the passageways through the dunes ‘desire lines’ – a term i knew nothing about. That concept would come to guide me like a compass, giving me a north star to create my work over the past three years.
Every desire line offers us a story, marking a journey that can be poetic evidence of our true nature. If real paths show us where we should go and how we should get there, then desire paths are visible markers of our autonomy and our undeniable love of making our own way.
From source to sea, the desire line of water rarely follows a straight path, nor did the journey i have made towards this exhibition.”
Desire Lines is the debut exhibition from Roisin O Riain after teaching Art for over 37 years in Loreto Community School in Milford. Originally from Inishowen, Roisin lives with her family on the outskirts of Letterkenny.
