ARCHIVE: Heart Tracing - Paul Roy

Esker Arts opened Heart Tracing by artist Paul Roy on Saturday 18th January 2025.

The exhibition was officially opened by artist and mentor Alan Phelan. The intention of Paul Roy’s visual arts practice has always been that the works are the initiation of a conversation with the audience. The aesthetics come from the consideration that text as an artistic tool has the potential to be more immediately accessible and familiar.

Heart tracing is a medical test looking at the electrical rhythm of the heart. For Paul, as a chronically ill person, the sense of heart both physically and emotionally, speaks to almost every aspect of life; it represents the core of grief, longing, love and absence, all intensely felt within, it bears the burdens of illness and loss.

When he presents words and poetry as art, he is trying to avoid dictating to the viewer how they must think about an image, or defining how it must be approached. Instead, he is saying to them, “here are some of my thoughts, what are yours?”

The exhibition ran until the 15th of March.

Please see image gallery below.

Photography and Videography by Malfi Productions