A headline in The Irish Times last year over a report of the inquests into the deaths of four heroin addicts has provided the inspiration for an exhibition which will run in the Temple Bar Gallery from tomorrow to September 24th.
The headline reflected the comments made by Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell when, in expressing sympathy with the bereaved families, he referred to heroin abuse in the city.
Athlone-born sculptor Amanda Ralph had just returned from Arizona in the US and started working in the Fire Station Studio on Lower Buckingham Street when the headline and report attracted her attention. "The centre is just down the road from the Christmas tree which the families of victims erected and I wanted to do something which reflected the damage heroin is doing in the area," Ms Ralph says.
She attended the coroner's court where she sat among the bereaved families and witnesses. Originally she intended to create a sculpture to mark the deaths she heard of there. However, this proved impossible and she began to write down details of the cases she attended.
Her exhibition, Coroner Regrets, comprises a three-hour soundtrack with actors Ronan Wilmot and Ena May reading from her text against a background of video images of the ebbing and flowing tide in the River Liffey.
She also intends to produce a book based on her memories of the inquests she attended.
"I didn't take notes in the court but wrote down my recollections and impressions each night," she explains.
Dublin county coroner Dr Bartley Sheehan is expected to speak at the opening of the exhibition tonight.