ADRIFT, the exhibition currently on show at the Highlanes Gallery, is well worth a visit. If you’re caught in the rain it’s the place to head to and consider the meaning of life through which many of us float with little sense of purpose.
The exhibition features the work of Belgian visual artist and filmmaker Els Dietvorst who explores themes, personal and global, that are timeless and also of our time.
Showing an appreciation for what we usually consider to be different, undesirable, or inferior, Dietvorst explores life histories, interpersonal dialogues, migration and cultural differences, human dreams and desires, and the human condition.
She pays specific attention to the position of “the outsider” and focuses her gaze on people and events that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Dietvorst’s work includes sculpture, drawing, installations, print, film and documentary, and performative actions and one-act plays.
Dietvorst says, “‘For me, creation is a collective process, inclusive and permeable to the world, to the living and the dead, to small, neglected, objects as well as to each other’s ideas.”
Dietvorst’s work will go on tour around Ireland in 2023/24. The tour will be undertaken collaboratively by Wexford Arts Centre, Highlanes Gallery, West Cork Arts Centre, and Wexford County Council. It will showcase an overview of the artist’s extensive and multi-faceted work to date, as well as highlight new works.
Artist and lecturer Els Dietvorst (centre) with exhibition curators Catherine Bow (left) and Karla Sánchez Zepeda, at the opening of ADRIFT at the Highlanes Gallery.
The opening of ADRIFT took place in Highlanes Gallery on Saturday, 1 July, when Dietvorst took part in a panel discussion with the show’s curators on the content of the exhibition. This was followed by a performance by singer-songwriter, Laoise Garvey.
Els Dietvorst is an Assistant Lecturer at South East Technological University’s (SETU) Wexford campus. The exhibition is at the Highlanes Gallery until August 19th.
