WATCH – Visible Reminders of Invisible Light exhibition at Hunt and Limerick museums

Bishop Brendan Leahy officially launches Visible Reminders of Invisible Light exhibition in the Captain’s Room at the Hunt Museum. Pictured at the exhibition is Mayor of Limerick City and County, James Collins, Maurice Quinlan, Exhibition Curator, Ralph Gelbert, Exhibiting Artist, Naomi O’Nolan, The Hunt Museum, Matthew Potter, Limerick City Museum and Bishop Brendan Leahy. Picture: Keith Wiseman

WATCH – Visible Reminders of Invisible Light exhibition at Hunt and Limerick museums 

In a unique collaboration, Limerick Diocese has joined with the Hunt and Limerick museums to produce an inspirational art exhibition – the ‘Visible Reminders of Invisible Light’ – as a legacy to last year’s World Meeting of Families. The exhibition, curated by local artist Maurice Quillinan, launched last week and runs to March 24 at the two museums, weaving together many strands around the theme of family and celebrates Limerick’s long tradition in visual culture. Artists across Limerick have given their individual interpretation of ‘family’ in the new exhibition, and the project saw 17 contemporary artists create new works based on the historic collections held in both museums. 

Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, speaking at the exhibition launch in the Hunt Museum, said the genesis of the project began during the preparation for the World Meeting of Families.  “We were getting ready for the World Meeting of Families and we thought of the legacy question and ‘what will we do afterwards?’. We thought why not initiate a project to do with art because artists are great people at creating works that last and can speak beyond any particular time or age.” 

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Pictured at the exhibition is Eoin and Ann O’Connell. Picture: Keith Wiseman

Winnie Davern, Chairperson of the Diocesan Architecture and Heritage said that the exhibition reflects the creativity of the Limerick arts community. “This has created a wonderful and insightful reflection of the whole theme of family. I think it’s just fantastic to see contemporary interpretations of these beautiful pieces here in the Hunt Museum and in the Limerick City Museum. When you see the pieces, that’s when you really actually get to appreciate it.” 

James Collins, Mayor of Limerick City and County Council described the coming together of the two organisations was “typically Limerick”. 

He said “It’s great that we have two organizations coming together to give a platform to our Limerick people to showcase their creativity. It has been a fantastic success and It’s something that’s, I’d say, typically Limerick. It’s about public engagement, it’s about community and they’re things that are very special in Limerick. We produce very talented people locally and it’s about giving them an opportunity to share that with the rest of us.” 

Naomi O’Nolan, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at the Hunt museum said it had been an “absolutely wonderful” project to work on. “Both of these collections are so rich, with the most wonderful historical artefacts that it was really a wonderful project and it was very exciting for the artists to get involved. We are delighted to be working collaboratively with the diocese, with the Limerick Museum, and then Maurice Quillinan, of course, a local artist who curated the show. The intention of the diocese and the bishop was to leave a legacy from the world meeting of families. And this has certainly happened,” she said. 

A series of education events have been scheduled to complement and explain the exhibition. The first will be three of the artists in conversation at 1 pm on February 14.   

For more information on the exhibition, click here 

For more stories featuring Limerick’s museums, click here