This diptych by Miriam McConnon was acquired in 2016 by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for the collection of the Irish State. 

Here are the artist's notes for this beautiful work exhibited as part of the 2016 group show Effleurements at the Olivier Cornet Gallery:

Miriam McConnon immerses herself in other people’s lives. She takes an intense interest in individual stories. Her recent paintings and drawings describe people and their lives using everyday objects. By carefully painting these objects from the everyday life of people around her, she attempts to illuminate a trace or sometimes an idea of what each person once was, the personal effects that outlive them such as a row of old dresses, a wall of cups, stacks of plates, a letter, a ballet shoe. 

The figure is absent in Miriam’s paintings giving these objects priority on the canvas, in doing so Miriam attempts to archive the objects and preserve the stories that they carry with them, revealing a glimpse at a life and a story in time. Miriam uses these individual mythologies to relate the relentless march of time.

This work features in the Interview Miriam did with Alan Keane (The Artist's Well) in August 2020. Click here to watch the video recording on YouTube.