This lecture forms part of the learning programme for John Kindness’s exhibition ‘The Odyssey’ on view in the Gallagher Gallery until 18 February. For this exhibition, Kindness’ attention has centred on Homer’s Odyssey, the adventures and travails of the King of Ithaca. Kindness brings his virtuosity to various mediums and introduces novel strategies to represent the various episodes in the tale.
Inspired by James Joyce’s version of the Odyssey, Ulysses, Kindness presents an extraordinary and varied visual language in his exhibition The Odyssey to represent episodes from Odysseus’s decade-long detour on his return to Ithaca, following the siege of Troy.
The fundamental and timeless relevance of Greek mythology underpins Kindness’s endeavour and gives rise to his use of modern forms while staying faithful to Homer’s narrative and the natures of his characters. Here, you will see the hazards of Scylla and Charybdis engraved onto a toilet seat, Odysseus’s teenage son listening to albums by ‘The Sirens’ and ‘The Gorgons’, and Poseidon’s branded sailor snacks.
About Dr Martine Cuypers
Martine studied Classics at Leiden University and worked as a lecturer and research fellow in Hamburg, Leiden, Groningen, Chicago and Washington DC before joining Trinity College Dublin. At Trinity, she teaches Greek language and Greco-Roman literature and culture in the Department of Classics and contributes to the M.Phil. courses in Comparative Literature and Literary Translation in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies. She also chairs the Classics development group of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.
Her research focuses on epic poetry and the Greek literature of the Hellenistic period and Empire when Hellenic culture ‘went global’ and Greek was the lingua franca of much of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.
This event is free. NOW FULLY BOOKED
Image: John Kindness, Penelope & Telemachus, 2022, Gouache and varnish on paper, 268 x 150cm