There is a comforting bucolic vibe to the term “gleaning”, which refers to gathering leftover crops after harvesting. The central theme of Ireland’s contemporary art biennale, EVA International, suggests thrifty farming and caring for the land. But the assumption shatters when you see paintings by the Ukrainian artist Kateryna Aliinyk: vegetables resemble grenades and their roots are like mangled entrails in a dark, disturbing underworld.
It is an abrupt warning that the 40th EVA International, which starts in Limerick on Thursday, uses the concept of gleaning to ask disquieting questions about what we sow, reap and leave buried.
