Chinese, Irish duo show opens in Beijing

A duo show of Chinese artist Ma Liangfen and Irish artist Niamh Cunningham's works was opened at Dong Yue Art Museum in Beijing on Sep 26, and is scheduled to run until Oct 3.

Titled "Shared Destiny: The Pattern that Connects", the exhibition shows 60 woodcut boards of Ma and oil paintings of Cunningham, examining the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures.

"Although we come from different nations, we have a similar heart to create, and pay attention to many similar things, like the relationship between human and nature, and human's internal conflicts," said Ma, a member of the China Artists Association and director of Cangzhou's fine art academy in Cangzhou, Hebei province.

Irish artist Niamh Cunningham focuses on ecological insights linked to themes of personal and collective transformation, and selected some works from her "memory palace of trees" collection depicting stories of trees around the world.

"The exhibition serves as a grand showing of Chinese and Western art. Chinese and Irish artists share rich imaginations, and on the basis of our similarities, we need to communicate with each other to promote common prosperity of our cultures," said Wang Yuezhou, president of Cangzhou's federation of literary and art circles.