Meryl Donoghue’s (London) work is inspired by stories of desperate circumstances with incalculable outcomes. It also pays homage to past writers, poets and musicians whose work have fuelled her imagination. Her works start as pencil drawings that are reproduced through photography, scanning and digital manipulation.
''My new work is inspired by stories that I’ve heard and events in my life that hold sway over me. It is a portrayal of desperate circumstances with unsettling and incalculable outcomes and in part pays homage to past writers, poets and musicians whose work has fuelled my imagination and inspired invention.
My work explores a number of themes such as loneliness, abandonment, loss and punishment. I am interested in the concept of cruel fate and the idea of the tragic heroine, much like Thomas Hardy’s Tess from Tess of the d’Urbervilles, whose unrelenting kindness and pure intentions are mercilessly rewarded with misery and injustice to the point of tragedy. My work is an expression of my own personal fears and grievances. It is a testament to the dread I feel in anticipation of adverse yet inevitable events and my lamentation at past sorrows. My pieces often exist as metaphors for punishment; punishment for hidden feelings and secret deeds.
Narrative is important in my work and I draw inspiration and imagery from folklore, fairytales, mythology, religion and literature. Adoption of elements and ideas from such sources cements the foundations of my constructed reality giving it depth, a past and a sense of history. I invite the viewer to join me, offering them a surreal world that their imaginations may explore. A world in which the lines between the real and the fantastical are indefinite, thus forcing them to question its truth, just as myth and legend in the minds of many often transpire as history.''