Graham Ward: Fisterra

‘FISTERRA’  is a retrospective exhibition by Graham Ward that brings together paintings from 1980 to the present (many in private collections) in addition to new works created specifically for the Pie Factory space that have been prompted by the act of journeying to the Atlantic port of Finisterre on the Northern tip of Spain.

With an abiding fascination with the act of pilgrimage, and specifically journeys made within the region to the city of Santiago de Compostela, the process of continuing to the ocean has, for centuries, been seen as the most ancient of all pilgrim routes. Pre-dating even those made by early Christians, the journey to Finisterre was seen as one which mirrored the Via Lactea or Milky Way of stars to the very edge of the world as it was understood in pagan times, where the sun set over the pagan temple of Art Solis once situated there.

For Fisterra (the original name given to the area), the artist focuses specifically on a pilgrimage made to see the famous effigy of the Santisimo Christo de Fisterra and the Romanesque chapel of Santa Maria das Areas that houses it. Revered for centuries by the Galician community, its presence has prompted this new body of work which also features a number of three-dimensional sculptures based on the ancient Kings of Leon, in addition to new paintings made especially for the exhibition.