Text by curator Eamonn Maxwell

The title of this exhibition is intentionally ambiguous - clearing can refer to the clearing of trees through deforestation, an open area in the middle of a woodland, removing a blockage (physical or psychological) or something that is disappearing. Noelle Gallagher wants to give the viewer a sense of what the works in the exhibition might be exploring, but without revealing too many details or suggesting how we should respond.

This exhibition is centred on a film made by the artist following a residency at Interface, situated in the Inagh Valley, in the heart of Connemara. Forest/ry is exploring the deforestation of parts of Derryclare at the southern edge of the Twelve Bens mountain range in County Galway to create the conditions for a new biodiverse woodland. We’re observing a landscape being reshaped by mechanical means seemingly at odds with the lush greenery of an adjacent ancient forest. The night sky is filled with the noise and light of commercial forestry equipment, which feels jarring given the context of the location, but the process of afforestation and the restoration of bogland is viewed by many as a positive process.

The paintings in the show use a mixture of oil paint and charcoal on canvas or panel. These small works are in a sense companions to the film work. The artist is using the slow process of traditional oil painting for her native woodland paintings as it’s reflective of the slower time frame for forests to develop relative to forestry plantations. In these paintings we are witnesses to a single moment, which encourages us to dwell and more intimately observe the details of the forestry processes. The more you look the more you see.

The planting and the removal of trees in the areas the artist is documenting have largely been carried out by humans. But in this work, there are no people. Those empty landscapes were here before us and will long outlive our race. We are observing the first shoots towards a more eco-friendly future, where we live in harmony with nature rather than seeing it only as another way to make money.

 clearing is not meant to be a political commentary on the way these forests are being reshaped. Rather, Noelle Gallagher is encouraging us to be aware of how our ancient landscapes are evolving and for us to find the beauty in all the that we observe.

Link to a video of clearing exhibition at Ballina Arts Centre 2024. Audio includes an excerpt of the original soundtrack for Forest/ry composed by Natalia Beylis & Eimear Reidy.