2022
Charcoal on paper
This large-scale charcoal work was created especially for this exhibition. It is an enormous pleasure and privilege to have it included.
The artist depicts the moving reunion between father and son at the conclusion of Odysseus’s travels and travails. ‘. . . Until Laertes recognised his son, and weak at the knees,/ Dizzy, flung his arms around the neck of great Odysseus / Who drew the old man fainting to his breast and held him there / And cradled like driftwood the bones of his dwindling father.’ – from ‘Laertes’ by Michael Longley, in Gorse Fires (Cape Poetry 2009) and in Homer’s Octopus (Fine Press Poetry, 2020).
Michael Longley will be reading his poetry in the gallery on Saturday 28 May at 2:00pm – booking essential (email via the Contact form) due to space.
