The Arts Department of Wexford County Council in partnership with Wexford Arts Centre are delighted to host an exhibition of work by artist Brian Maguire, bringing together a selection of recent works resulting from a visit to Syria in 2017.

Brian Maguire has distinguished himself through his socially and politically engaged career and artistic practice. Documenting the destruction in Aleppo, Maguire’s paintings offer a visceral and unmitigated insight into the physical consequences of war. The stark absence of life within these painting’s, emblematic of the consequences of war, stands in contrast to our expectations of living city spaces. Once filled with bustling people and life, the crumbling structures are skeletal reminders of the communities and people destroyed through violence. Indeed, Maguire has long identified with the marginalised in society, and his work often investigates instances of inhumanity and injustice in a practical and intensely relatable way.

Maguire has shown extensively in Europe and the US, also participating in shows in Korea, China, and Japan. Recent solo exhibitions include War Changes Its Address: The Aleppo Paintings, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (26 January – 6 May 2018); The Void, Derry (2015–2016); and Fergus McCaffrey, New York (2015). In 2000, a major retrospective toured from Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane to Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, and the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston.

In association with War Changes Its Address: The Aleppo Paintings, Syrian photographer Giath Taha will present Another Day in Aleppo, a selection of his works in Kamera 8 Gallery, Wexford Town. Exploring the complexities and human cost of civil conflict, Taha’s work is both harrowing and poignant, focusing intimately on those attempting to survive through unimaginable violence. Taha’s photographs have been featured in publications as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

An accompanying exhibition by Giath Taha, Another Day in Aleppo, will run in Kamera ∞ Gallery, Rowe Street, Wexford, until Monday 3 December 2018. Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 12pm-5pm, and Friday from 12pm-4.30pm.