Dancing in the Dark: Re-Mythologising
James Joyce’s Bat-Like Souls
24 October – 7 November 2022
The theme of this art installation is Joyce’s engagement with bats, from the ‘bat-like soul’ of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to the ’little bats [who] don’t tell’ in Ulysses and the ‘bawk of bats’ in Finnegans Wake. Joyce’s alignment of the bat with female characters essentially debunks negative stereotypes, thus placing the bat in its rightful place as a symbol of the creative spirit and positioning women in an environment of growing self-empowerment and liberation in the modern world.
The exhibition will run from 24 October to 7 November. It features original artwork and film by Dr. Joyce Garvey that are inspired by the myriad references to bats across the Joycean oeuvre and also by Lucia Joyce’s illustrations. The artwork is available for sale.
