Portraits is a solo exhibition by renowned Waterford artist Pat Murphy featuring people he met in Cuba in 2004 alongside more recent self-portraits on view in University Hospital Waterford as part of the 2016 Well festival of arts and wellbeing.

Pat Murphy was born in Waterford in 1950, the third child in a family of ten children. Having received a Department of Education Scholarship in 1969, he studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design and in 1972 he held his first solo show at the Neptune Gallery, Dublin. In 1987 Pat and his family moved to Old Parish, County Waterford where he still lives and works.

Pat’s work has appeared in one man shows and group shows in Ireland and abroad can be found in public collections such as the Office of Public Works, Waterford Municipal Collection, Great Book of Ireland, University College Cork, and in private collections in Ireland, England, Holland, Switzerland and the USA.

Organised by the Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT), this exhibition is a combination of self-portraits and portraits of people the artist met when he travelled to Cuba with film maker Bonnie Dempsey in 2004. Throughout that three month road trip Pat created a stunning body of work on four rolls of paper, captured on film by Bonnie which was later exhibited in Waterford and Dublin.

‘We are delighted to see Pat’s work on exhibition here in University Hospital Waterford and believe it will be a source of joy and intrigue for the patients and staff who walk the hospital corridors. The loose, playful nature of his work belies that skill and insight Pat brings to making it,’ says Mary Grehan, Director of WHAT.

Portraits features in the 2016 programme of the 2016 Well festival of arts and wellbeing which celebrates the benefits of participation in the arts for everyone. Running from Monday 3rd to 10th October 2016 in tandem with World Mental Health Day, it is supported by Sanofi Waterford, Waterford City and County Council, the Department of Social Protection and the Arts Council and is produced by WHAT, Waterford City & County Library Services and Garter Lane Arts Centre. The exhibition will run until 2nd November.
For more information on the Well festival of arts and wellbeing and to download a programme, go to www.wellwaterford.com#well16

For further information, contact Mary Grehan at 051 842664 or email WHAT@hse.ie.