This Master of Art by Research exhibition is the visual response to a thesis question that explores the primacy of Ireland's ancient contemplative, visual culture and its reverberations, through the ages, on contemporary artistic expression. In acknowledging our historical capacity for contemplation, this research also seeks to extend a conversation beyond the studio and into its convergences with art and public wellbeing.

The Knowth passage tomb at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Brú na Bóinne in County Meath, built 500 years before its sister site of Newgrange. Knowth contains the largest collection of Megalithic carvings of any single place in Europe, so for an artist, it is a most precious depository of direct visual information about our earliest artists and the artistic lineage we are directly descended from.

Using the touchstone of these Megalithic carvings, a meditation practice of over twenty years and a life drawing art practice, this exhibition explores this question though the convergences between these elements. The resulting paintings in this exhibition which opened in June 2026 are the conclusion of two years of study, field visits to Knowth and studio research.