PICTURES: Marking Culture Night in Roscrea

Roscrea’s Damer House Gallery marked Culture Night 2026 with an evening of conversation and creative exchange featuring artist Bernie Masterson and performance poet Máighréad Medbh at the Black Mills in Roscrea.

Two Voices – One Terrain brought both artists together to share the ideas, processes, and experiences that shape their practices, offering audiences direct insight into two distinctive approaches to contemporary art and performance.

A facilitated discussion, chaired by textile artist Jackie Carter, followed the presentations, with engaged and incisive questions from the audience.

Masterson and Medbh have collaborated on several occasions, including the film Bold Writing, screened on the night.

The work responds in poetry and visual art to a copybook from Vere Foster’s Bold Writing or Civil Service series, discovered in Mountjoy Prison in the late 1990s.

After her presentation, Medbh performed selections from her work, including pieces from her recent book Dwellings.

In closing remarks, Kate Walsh of Damer House Gallery highlighted Culture Night as “an opportunity to engage with artists and performers directly, often with surprising and fascinating results,” noting that the atmospheric surroundings of the Black Mills provided an ideal setting for the event.

She thanked Culture Night Tipperary, Tipperary Arts Office, Tipperary County Council, and the OPW for use of the venue.

The final Damer House Gallery event of the year is Homeland, the annual video art exhibition, launching on October 3rd, also in the Black Mills.

Also marking Culture Night in Roscrea Age Friendly Roscrea held a very interesting Poetry Night.

Fiona Bolger, poet, facilitated the evening with excellent readings and people reading their own poetry and the work of other poets.

The poetry was thought provoking, topical, reviving memories and emotional at times.

“The evening was enjoyed by all,” Mary MacMahon, Project Coordinator for Age Friendly Roscrea said.