An Exhibition by Artists from Ireland and Japan
Kwaidan, by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), was first published in 1904. This exhibition features the works of 40 artists based in Ireland and Japan who have been inspired by these strange and ghostly tales. Their interpretations are presented through a diverse collection of contemporary fine art printmaking and photography.

Lafcadio Hearn enjoys great acclaim as a literary genius who brought the folklore of Japan to Westerners. Inspired by the author’s book Kwaidan (1904), a collection of stories of the supernatural and translations of haiku poetry, a travelling exhibition entitled Kwaidan – Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn, features the fine art print works by 40 Irish and Japanese artists. This collection has been exhibited Japan and Ireland during 2023 and 2024, to venues including the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museums in Matsue and Yaizu, as well as to Nagute and Kyoto. It is also visited exhibition venues in Ireland, including the Ballinglen Museum of Art in Co. Mayo, the Hyde Gallery at the Yeats Building in Sligo, the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore, Co. Waterford, and the Hunt Museum in Limerick. From March until the end of August of 2025 it can be seen at Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin, and will also feature in the Irish Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo from April to October before taking up a permanent residence at Ireland House, the new Irish Embassy complex that is currently being constructed in Tokyo.

In tandem with the exhibition’s opening at Farmleigh Gallery, Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for Asian Studies (under School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences) is organising a one-day academic workshop honouring the life and works of Hearn, recognising him as a person dedicated to understanding across cultures, ambitious in his rejection of bigotry, and sensitive to Japanese life and ethics despite their contrast to the West. Speakers include prominent scholars, diplomats and politicians from Ireland, Japan, Britain and USA. A music performance titled Celebrating Lafcadio Hearn – Bridging Japan and Ireland will be staged at lunch time at St. Ann’s Church on Dublin’s Dawson Street, a venue connected to Lafcadio Hearn’s family history.

Hearn moved to Ireland, his father’s homeland, at the age of two. He experienced the tradition of oral storytelling throughout his childhood In Dublin, Tramore and Cong. He honed his skills as a writer while working as a journalist in the USA, and later produced many works in Japan. Of these, Kwaidan is considered to be a masterpiece and the culmination of Hearn’s literary output. When the prominent art exhibition featuring Kwaidan takes place in Dublin, it will be a meaningful juncture for Trinity Centre for Asian Studies to organise this academic event, brining scholars, diplomats, politicians and the public together to celebrate Hearn’s life and creativity, and by implication to celebrate humanity and a cosmopolitan value.

Farmleigh Gallery 06.03.2025 – 24.08.2025
Opening times: Tuesday – Sunday & Bank Holiday Mondays, 10am – 1pm & 2pm – 5pm (close 1.00pm – 2.00pm)