Garter Lane Arts Centre is delighted to present The infinite whatever, a solo exhibition of screen prints, photography and photo-riston prints by Debbie Godsell.

The infinite whatever is a term coined by the New York Times travel writer Eric Werner who describes his experiences of ‘thin’ places as where ”the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we glimpse the divine, transcendent, or the infinite whatever”. In these places, we may be ‘jolted out of old ways of seeing the world.’ This collection of new work by Debbie Godsell responds to Werner’s theory with imagery gathered from the west Cork landscape- documenting such places that resonate and offer a refuge. Places where a person may experience a rare sense of wellbeing or briefly connect with their essential self. Winifred Gallagher puts even more succinctly in her book ‘The power of place’ when she writes ”whatever the reason some places can inspire a sense of presence something perceived by the senses rather than seen…a momentary contact with some entity larger and greater than the mind”. To emphasise the importance of our interaction with nature, Gallagher also writes in the ‘The Power of Place’ that ”nature provides symbols and values which we all rely. Its manifestations stand for life itself, growth, change, continuity, purity, freedom, mystery and the transcendent feeling of being a part of a larger unity”.

Alongside the landscape, the image of the child in this work explores fragility, curiosity, vulnerability and the belief that children live close to these ‘thin’ places. Nan Goldin , in her series of photographs of children in ‘Eden and after’ suggests that children ‘are born with a consciousness of another existence and as they get older, they forget it.’ They, she suggests ‘are nothing to do with god or any other higher power, children are beyond that.’

Debbie Godsell studied in the Limerick college of Art and Design and the Crawford College of Art, where she graduated with a Masters in Fine Art Research in 2002. Since then Debbie has been working fulltime as an Artist and an Art educator. Debbie has been guest lecturer at the Art Departments of The Crawford College of Art, Galway Institute of Technology and the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. Debbie currently lectures fulltime in the Art Department at C.S.N, Cork where she is the Course Director for level 6 Certificate in Art. Debbie is a full member of Cork Printmakers.