Pre-book your free ticket to the Festival Gallery here. Your ticket allows entry to the Gallery to view both Hughie O'Donoghue and Bill Viola's exhibitions.
Three Women is part of the Transfigurations series, a group of works that reflect on the passage of time and the process by which a person’s inner being is transformed. The Sufi mystic Ibn al’ Arabi described life as an endless journey when he said, “The Self is an ocean without a shore. Gazing upon it has no beginning or end, in this world and the next.” Three Women expresses this profound vision of the eternal nature of human life.
In the dim, ghostly grey of a darkened space, a mother and her two daughters slowly approach an invisible boundary. They pass through a wall of water at the threshold between life and death and move into the light, transforming into living beings of flesh and blood. Soon the mother recognizes that it is time for her to return, and eventually her children slowly follow, each tempted to have one more look at the world of light before disappearing into the shimmering, gray mists of time.
Bill Viola is internationally recognised as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art and in so doing has helped to greatly expand its scope in terms of technology, content and historical reach.
Planning Your Visit & Your Safety
Galway International Arts Festival is committed to prioritising your health and safety. The Festival Gallery complies with public health and Government guidelines (maximum capacity 50) to allow for social distancing. Please pre-book your free ticket to gain entry.
Please select a time slot at the 'Buy Tickets' link and note that time at the Festival Gallery is limited to 45 minutes. Your ticket allows entry to the Gallery to view both Hughie O'Donoghue and Bill Viola's exhibitions. In line with HSE guidelines about face coverings in indoor settings, please wear a face mask in the Festival Gallery. For more details about planning your attendance, please read our Autumn Edition safety information, and our FAQs.