A Deeper Well
Róisín O’Sullivan
Thursday 3 July – Friday 1 August 2025
Opening Times: Tuesday to Friday, 10am – 1.00pm, 2.00pm – 5.00pm.
Studio 12, Backwater Artists Group, Wandesford Quay, Cork, Ireland, T12 E26D
A Deeper Well is a solo exhibition by artist Róisín O’Sullivan, it consists of new and existing work spanning painting and wood carving, exploring the emotional and spiritual dimensions of the natural world – and our place within it.
Inspired by her surroundings, Róisín uses abstraction to communicate the indescribable qualities of being in the natural environment, referring to experience and memory, and an innate elemental link to it.
Circles recur throughout: sun, moon, breath, rhythm, cycles – symbols of nature’s quiet perfection. Among these, a recurring motif emerges: the eye. Painted and carved forms echo the ‘tree eyes’ found in the landscape, where a branch once grew and the tree has sealed itself – watchful, scarred, alive. These eyes suggest that while we look at nature, nature looks back, holding us in its gaze.
These abstract forms are not depictions but gestures – echoes of something older, deeper, perhaps eternal. Colour, texture, and mark-making imbue the work with energy, each surface a site of movement, memory, and intention. The materials, such as found collected wood and paint, articulate the subsequent line or shape, a response process that is almost meditative. Each mark is an act of listening, each carving determining the essential.
Here, nature is not a subject but a mirror. Dwelling on the complexities of being alive: grief and grace, stillness and movement, clarity and uncertainty. The ‘Well’ becomes both literal and symbolic – a place we return to, again and again, to draw meaning, beauty, and sustenance.
The title signals a deeper well-being, a quiet inner resource cultivated through attention, presence, and connection. In Irish mythology, wells are portals to other worlds: sources of wisdom, healing, and poetic insight. A Deeper Well, or ‘Tobar na doimhneachta’ in Irish, draws from this lineage, offering a space for reflection and renewal.
At a time when surface and speed often define our experience of the world, A Deeper Well offers an invitation to slow down, to look inward, and to trust what lies beneath.
Curated by Rachel Botha.
Design by Adam Carr.
Kindly supported by the Arts Council, Ireland.
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Róisín O’Sullivan achieved an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London, UK (2015) and a BA in Fine Art at CCAM, GMIT in Galway, Ireland (2011). Recent solo exhibitions include I See Skies at Triskel Arts Centre in Cork City, Ireland (2022–2023), curated by Miguel Amado, and Under a Crescent Moon at Rathfarnham Castle OPW in Dublin, Ireland (2023). In 2022 the artist completed the prestigious twelve-month Tony O’Malley residency, administered by the Royal Hibernian Academy. She is a recipient of multiple awards by the Arts Council, Ireland including the Visual Arts Bursary 2022. In 2024 O’Sullivan was awarded the Cork County Council Creative Artists Bursary Scheme. Her work is held in both private and public collections, including the Office of Public Works, Ireland.
Rachel Botha is a curator, her practice investigates how people perceive their social and political framework within the local context. She was awarded the Provost’s Curatorial Fellowship at The Douglas Hyde, Trinity College Dublin, and the Emerging Curator at the Kilkenny Arts Office. She was appointed Emerging Editor of Bloomers Magazine, co-director of Catalyst Arts, Belfast, and Early Career Curator at the Regional Cultural Centre and Glebe House & Gallery, Donegal. Recently she was the Assistant Curator at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. She is currently the curator of the Tea Houses, a newly activated space situated by the river Nore in Kilkenny.
Backwater Artists Group is an artist-led organisation, located on Wandesford Quay, in the heart of Cork City. Our mission is to support and advocate for visual artists, allowing them to thrive, to foster a deep appreciation and enthusiasm for the visual arts within the community and to keep sites of production at the heart of Cork city. We are a key fixture in Cork’s cultural landscape, and we sustain a thriving visual arts community. We currently have 100 artists in our various memberships. Since our inception in 1990, we have supported the practices of over 500 artists, including 150+ early career artists.
Saturday, July 19
In Conversation & Studio Tour with Róisín O’Sullivan and Rachel Botha
