Ballygahan by Catherine Ward

Title: Ballygahan
Year: 2025
Artist: Catherine Ward
Medium: oil, ochre and gravel on canvas (unframed)
Size: 60 cm x 80 cm

Catherine Ward b. 2000 (Dublin, Ireland) lives in London. She is currently completing a Masters Degree in Painting at Royal Collage of Art, UK, after obtaining a BA in Fine Art Painting at National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. Her paintings are preoccupied with landscapes scarred by human intervention and considers the material condition of land expressed as a finite resource. 

"‘What Remains’ is a painting set in the Avoca mining region in County Wicklow, Ireland. It depicts the mine’s large spoil heaps, situating them against the more picturesque landscape of the mountains. It is located in an isolated area with few residents, due to the clandestine nature of the former illegal mining operation. Although not a traditional landscape, I find myself as an artist longing to return to this unusual place. And it has been a significant inspiration for my work this past year.

"Left to its own devices, nature has begun to reclaim the landscape. While observing the landscape through sketching, I noticed rare red kites which had built a nest in the cliff face created by the opencast wall of the mine. The first time I visited, it made me think about the impact of humans on the planet, and the traces we leave behind. Like the heron [in John Berger's letter] I find myself returning to this place.”