Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's Tapestries Confront Time and Decay at Hugh Lane Gallery

Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's exhibition 'The Dream Pool Intervals' at Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery explores the tension between human attempts to assert control over time and the inevitable forces of destruction. The show features five large-scale digitally produced tapestries (all but three from 2025) that combine photomontages of deep-cave expeditions, Industrial Revolution-era family photographs, and images of architectural destruction. In 'Interval III' (2024), a desaturated dinner-table scene includes blacked-out faces, chalky patches, and a hyena looking toward the viewer. The tapestries employ frames within frames, discordant natural elements, and red smears, staging a confrontation between anthropological history and geological time. The second half of the exhibition includes conceptual works: empty glass vitrines with antique ceramic pots, a photograph brushed with bitumen paint in 'Untitled (surface #6)', and two works ('Picture XII, Diptych' and 'Picture IX') showing fungal growth overtaking white pigment prints. The exhibition runs through 28 September at Hugh Lane Gallery.