Niamh Clarke | The Transient and the Perishing

Soft smooth petals wrap around each other like silk, the fragile embrace, a nurturing armour, for a brief graceful life. In ageing they wither, fall, expire. Milky gold turns to autumn brown. Lovely even in the state of withdrawal.

A low light flickers, the room moves in the shadows, objects swimming in the yellow gold of the grey room. The blush portrait glances upon the reflection of another. Once those arms held him, a slight movement of the head revealed all intention, a child acted out the memories of a lived life, as though it existed in the body long before.

The song bled into consciousness, splitting all in two; the time that was and that now is. A hand reached, another set free. Each memory is veiled through the next one and who can say the true way of it. All that remains is a tarnished reflection.

Is this the after-sorrow?

Niamh Clarke is a recent Fine Art graduate of the University of Ulster and currently shares a studio at QSS with fellow member, Sharon McKeown. She works predominantly in drawing, extending through to the written word, video and watercolours. The re-drawing of found and personal photographs is a common thread in her work, reflecting an interest in memory and temporality.