Pictures By Jenny Callanan
Highlanes Gallery is presenting Penti Menti, the first institutional solo exhibition by artist Sarah Dwyer, marking a return to Ireland for the Cork born artist.
Now based in London, Dwyer has built a strong international reputation. The exhibition brings together a series of new paintings, drawings and ceramic sculptures created especially for this show, with several works among the largest she has produced to date.
The title refers to the art historical concept of pentimento, from the Italian pentirsi, meaning to repent, which describes the visible traces of an artist’s earlier revisions within a painting. For Dwyer, this idea is central to her practice. Her work explores layering and erasing, burying and revealing, reflecting the ways memory and time shape both the body and the landscape.
Her recent pieces draw on deeply personal experiences, including themes of fragility, loss and the persistence of memory. Traces of earlier stages remain visible within the finished works, forming an important part of the overall composition through rhythm, gesture and shifting balances of colour and form.
Dwyer’s use of colour is bold, with electric yellows, luminous pinks and deep marine blues conveying energy while also acknowledging vulnerability. Her ceramic works share the same playful and experimental approach, often resisting symmetry. While there is an underlying figurative element, forms are frequently fragmented, reworked or partially obscured, creating a dialogue between intention and revision that mirrors emotional and psychological experience.
Sarah Dwyer, born in Ireland in 1974, lives and works in London. She holds a Master of Arts in Painting from the Royal College of Art and an MFA from Staffordshire University. Her work has been exhibited widely at international venues including galleries in Paris, Zurich, Stockholm and London, as well as exhibitions in Venice, New York, Tokyo and across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The exhibition at Highlanes Gallery has been curated by Eamonn Maxwell and is supported by an Arts Council Touring Award. It was initiated by Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre and will also travel to Limerick City Gallery of Art from 18 April to 13 June 2026.
Penti Menti continues at Highlanes Gallery until Tuesday 17 March.
