Lisa’s Fingleton’s New Exhibition Opens At Siamsa Tíre
Kerry artist Lisa Fingleton delighted with response to opening of her ‘Square Tomato’ exhibition
North Kerry artist Lisa Fingleton said this week that the response to the opening of her brand new exhibition ‘The Square Tomato’ in Siamsa Tíre over the weekend was “just fantastic.”
Inspired by the work of Indian writer and global food activist Dr Vandana Shiva, Lisa, through her exhibition, exposes the challenges of our food systems in terms of biodiversity, climate change and health.
Through her role as embedded artist with two large scale Creative Climate Action Projects, she helps to supports communities to explore how we can grow food, protect nature and be creative all at the same time.
Speaking to The Kerryman on Monday, Lisa gave us a teaser as to what people can expect if they pop into see the exhibition which is set to run until March 22.
“It [the opening] was just fantastic. My dream was that we would have over 100 people at it and we had well over that, so it was super.
“I’ve been doing this work in Kerry for nearly 20 years and I felt like everyone that had been on the journey with me was there at the opening. It was amazing. There’s a brilliant amount of community activists and growers and artists interested in these themes in Kerry and so it was wonderful that they were all there,” she said.
Some of the work on the exhibition, she said, dates back to 2023 while some, she added, was literally completed in the last two or three weeks in 2025.
“What it’s all about now is the interconnectedness of everything. That if we do the right thing by nature then everything thrives and when we start throwing spanners in the works or chemicals or pesticides, that’s when we see the breakdown. I didn’t realise before the exhibition but that is the theme, that idea that everything we do has a consequence but also on the flip side of that, we have the potential to change everything by our actions also,” she continued.
So, if you find yourself in Tralee sometime in the lead up to March 22, make sure you pop into Siamsa Tíre so you don’t miss out on this timely, humorous and thought provoking exhibition which also features new works created with Creative Climate Action Projects (Brilliant Ballybunion & A Creative Imagining), Kerry Visual Artist in Residence programme and time at Navdanya.
This exhibition is supported by Creative Ireland (Creative Climate Action Fund), Siamsa Tire, The Arts Council, and the Kerry County Council Arts Office.
Article by Fergus Dennehy, Kerryman Newspaper, Tue 4 Feb 2025
Photo Credits: Domnick Walsh www.dwalshphoto.ie
