Pilgrimage

O’Doherty/Ireland's One Here Now; The Ogham Cycle is a nine-part series of spectacular, floor-to-ceiling wall paintings at Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Cork that encapsulates his career-long concerns with migration, language and identity. Liz Roche was commissioned to respond to this work as part of the One Here Now Brian O'Doherty/Patrick Ireland Project at Sirius Arts Centre Cobh that ran throughout 2018 to celebrate their restoration. I/Thou takes its name from one of the wall paintings that stands alone amongst the others, that was described by O'Doherty himself as “an exploration of light; an action against the rigorous plan of the rest”.

In 2015 Liz Roche had the opportunity to see an the work of visual artist and art critic Brian O'Doherty/ Patrick Ireland at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. This was the first time Liz had seen his work it in the flesh and she was struck by the mix of perfection and playfulness in his Rope Drawings but also the importance placed on the viewer who is empowered to receive the work in a very personal way. To Roche, O'Doherty/Ireland's work felt densely layered and connected and she was curious to find out more. Liz struck up a correspondence with O'Doherty in 2015 and through the One Here Now Brian O'Doherty/Patrick Ireland Project 2018 with Sirius Arts Centre, a commission by Cork Opera House and support from Arts Council Open Call Funding, I/Thou came into being in September 2018.