The Olivier Cornet Gallery is delighted to present Gairdín Rós | Rose garden, Vicky Smith's second solo exhibition with us.

In this exhibition, Smith focuses on her lived experience as a mother in self-portraits which reflect an image of motherhood as a state of mind that is not incompatible with creativity. Gairdín Rós comprises 7 paintings made during the first four years of motherhood. They explore portraiture, performance in the domestic realm, windows to new perspectives, the body, and inherited landscapes. Smith’s self-portraits juxtapose domestic objects with landscapes that recall significant places in her life, recreated from family photographs of places in the West of Ireland. Characterised by thick lively daubs of paint and flowers collaged into the paint, the paintings convey a sense of wonder in nature. The square window frame-like canvases offer windows to the world of the artist-mother, revelations of the paradox of motherhood and life as an artist.

The show also includes new work developed during a two-week artist residency at Interface Inagh, Connemara, in June 2025, comprising self-portraits created in the physical landscape and painted readymades which question the traditional separation of art and the domestic.