The Coastguard Cultural Centre Tramore to host unique collaboration between photographer and poet
During 2022, photographer Margaret O’Brien-Moran and poet Mark Roper visited the wonderful Japanese Gardens in Tramore on a regular basis. Their hope was to create a collaborative work based on their joint impressions of the Gardens during a calendar year.
The fruits of their labour can now be seen, in the exhibition ‘From The Japanese Gardens’, which runs at the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore throughout the month of February.
The exhibition will feature photographs, a short film, scrolls, silk hangings and more. A book of short poems and images will be for sale. Margaret is an experimental photographer, seeking to replace chemicals in the development of her work, in the interests of sustainability.
For the exhibition, she has made various different kinds of images, such as Anthotypes, Cyanotypes, Sun Pictures and Eco Prints, using developers made from plants in the Gardens. There is, for instance, an image of Lafcadio Hearn (in whose honour the Gardens were made) developed using the plant Hosta. This has been printed onto a Hosta leaf, with the printed leaf then being preserved in resin.
The short poems in the book, by Waterford-based poet, Mark Roper, follow the course of a year in the Gardens, from January:
Such cold today –
even the trees
wear socks of moss.
through all the drama of Spring, Summer and Autumn, into December:
Winter sun. Leaves
all gone from the trees.
Quiet in the garden.
Light on stone.
Running stream.
In many different ways, the exhibition comes directly from The Japanese Gardens.
‘From the Japanese Gardens’ runs from Monday, February 3rd to Friday, February 28th 2025 at The Coastguard Cultural Centre, Doneraile Drive, Tramore West, Tramore, Co. Waterford X91 HP63 and is open from 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday and from 10am to 4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The exhibition will be launched on Friday 7th February at 7pm by speaker Agnes Aylward. For further information call 086 3782722.
