The Nora Dunne Gallery is named in memory of my mother. She was born Nora Maloney, the second eldest of four daughters, in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick. She worked as a drapery assistant in Roches Stores in Cork where she met my father, Ben Dunne in the late 1930s. They married and raised their own family of six children.
My mother’s life was typical of women of her generation. Once married, husband and family were all that mattered. Whatever aspirations or ambitions for their own lives women like her might have cherished became subordinated to the duties and responsibilities of their role as wives and mothers. Wealthy or poor, privileged or disadvantaged, they had few real choices as to how their lives were played out. They were the unsung heroes, who oiled the wheels of life and kept the family on track; who made possible everything that later came good in our lives.
Mothers are ever attentive. They do not judge us as harshly as the rest of the world. Instead they understand us. They guide us all the way through life, long after we have left childhood behind and indeed, long after they too are gone from us.
My mother had little formal education. But she had an abundance of natural good taste. It showed in the way she lived, how she dressed, how she decorated her home and brought her own personal touch to her material surroundings. That was her artistry. I am proud to honour and celebrate her life with this gallery.
Mum you deserve it.
Ben Dunne
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In the beautifully landscaped garden behind the Gallery there is a subtle reminder....
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