Arts Council Ireland Collection Acquisition

'Quietly Dispelling the Dark', 2021, colour giclée photographic print measuring 110 cm x 130 cm and 3D installation, cotton and wood, dimensions variable, acquired by the Arts Council of Ireland for their Art Collection, 2024.

The Arts Council Collection dates back to 1962 and works from the collection can be seen in public institutions, galleries and museums across Ireland and international venues.

The photographic work, 'Quietly Dispelling the Dark' (PURE ID: 132875768), depicts a secluded space. The directional light which emanates from outside the room in the photograph, only partially illuminates it. The viewer is therefore positioned in a darkened space, looking outwards towards the light. What lies beyond the room remains perpetually concealed within the space of the image. This pictorial concealment resonates with the contradictory elements of my practice as it relates to the environments I create. Everything is on show, but nothing is revealed.

The installation (PURE ID: 133017549), devised to accompany the photograph, 'Quietly Dispelling the Dark', comprises large-scale grey curtains hovering above a stage-like structure, flanked by steps at either side, leading towards the photographic image. There is a deliberate interplay between what is illuminated in the photographic image, with its back-lit light source and what is obscured by the installation curtains that evoke a sense of concealment.

This work was presented as part of the solo exhibition, 'Places We Think We Know' at Dundee Contemporary Arts, 21st August - 21st November 2021 (PURE ID:133018093).

The photographic element of this research was also presented in a major survey exhibition of Irish art practice viewed through the lens of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Art Collection, shown at Visual Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, 20th September 2024 – 19th January 2025 (PURE ID:236313745). Works chosen from the collection for this exhibition, were selected by author Colm Tóibín in his role as Laureate for Irish Fiction, who also chose to use the title of this work as the title for the exhibition.

This work was also discussed as part of Colm Tóibín’s third and final Laureate for Irish Fiction Annual Lecture entitled, 'Taking Colour for a Walk', at Visual Centre for Contemporary Art on 3rd November 2024 (PURE ID: 236477099). At this event Colm Tóibín offered a reflection on those artists who had influenced him, offering insights on the intersection of literature and visual art, viewed through the perspective of one of Ireland's foremost writers. With an introduction by Director of the Arts Council Maureen Kennelly, Tóibín’s lecture was accompanied by In Conversation contributions from myself and Irish artist Robert Armstrong.

During the lecture, in relation to the selection of my work for inclusion in this survey exhibition, Colm Tóibín stated, “Amongst the selection of works acquired in the last couple of years I was shown a photograph. It is called ‘Quietly Dispelling the Dark’. It is a work from 2021 by Mary McIntyre. First, I loved the title and thought that it would serve us well as the title for the overall exhibition here. But mainly, I love the nuanced textures in the actual image itself, the contrast between fragility of the shadows and then the solid strength of the angles and lines. McIntyre’s photograph could easily be a beginning, a door that opens into the Collection, or it could be a culmination. But like the rest of the work here, it stands alone, it comes to us on its own terms. It is not merely an account of an experience, it is, in itself, an experience.”