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Reach out, pull Me Closer

Studio 12, Backwater Artists Group. Ciaran Langford Memorial Bursary Exhibition.

This exhibition aims to construct a ritual space, where the viewer is drawn into the natural cycles of creation and destruction present in all living things, and meditates on how these have been warped by human activity. The installation also considers the loss of ritual in modern culture and how this has damaged our connection to the world around us. It questions whether we can create a renewed bond that will allow us to return to a more balanced relationship with non-human life and the biosphere. 

Partially sculpted pieces of a fallen beech tree, taking inspiration from the ‘world trees’ of ancient mythologies, represent the body of the earth, upon which various processes and materials propose a metaphorical reflection on the effects of the Anthropocene on our planet.

Stand on their body,

Put your feet in their blood,

Put your head in their arms,

Stretch with them,

Reach out to Me,

Pull Me down,

Pull Me Closer.

“Murrough O’Donovan presents a series of interventions on a fallen beech tree in his exhibition ‘Reach out, pull Me closer’. Branches, bark and tree trunk are partially sculpted and scored to create a deconstructed–or constructed–landscape. A cascade of branches, arranged and fractionally worked upon, occupies the centre of the floor. It is this tension between O’Donovan’s physical inquiry into his chosen material and his observance of its natural qualities that highlights the show’s key concern: the delicate stasis between humans and their environment.” (from the text written for the exhibition by Sarah Long - https://backwaterartists.ie/reach-out-pull-me-closer-exhibition-text-written-by-sarah-long/)

Cycle - 2025 - Carved wood, copper, copper leaf - 200cm x 80cm 18cm. Photo: Seán Daly (c)