Kathleen Lynn: Insider on the Outside is a creative investigation into the life and work of Kathleen Lynn by thirteen contemporary Irish artists. The exhibition is curated by Catherine Marshall and spreads across five publicly-funded visual-arts spaces in Mayo.
Name Day is a multimedia installation reflecting upon the diary entries of Kathleen Lynn over the course of her life. Revealed in her diaries is the gift of flowers, including cyclamens, azaleas, primulas and begonias, that Madeleine ffrench Mullen gifted her every 24th November, on Kathleen’s ‘Fete’ Day. This installation and accompanying drawings reflect upon the thirty years of her relationship with Madeleine. Kathleen’s diaries reveal her great love of plants, flowers, gardening and the outdoors. The dried flowers, leaves and feathers found in the back of the diaries from 1921 to 1935 reflect a precious and contemplative way of maintaining memories and moments from her day, contrasting with her matter-of-fact writing in the diary entries.
The audience was invited, on the last day of the exhibition, to take home a flower from the installation to gift to a loved one, or stranger, or plant in their own garden.
