Birr Arts Festival, 2021

‘Through the Looking-Glass’, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was first published in 1871. It explores Alice’s further adventures as she travels through a mirror into another surreal world of peculiar behaviour, dominated by chessboards and chess pieces.

From an open submission, curator Therry Rudin selected works for a virtual gallery (online due to covid restrictions) during August 2021. Dunne’s painting Ornate #1 was part of the selection. The original piece was oil on canvas 100 x 70cm. The painting was inspired by the memory of returning home through a field at night and the Irish folklore surrounding fairy trees. Many believed that if you walked through a field with a fairy tree at night, you would suffer mental illness or you might even disappear.