Monday 24th November 2025
Location: Tea Houses, Kilkenny
Description:
The Tea Houses presents the upcoming exhibition, ‘River(s) of no Return’ by Bernadette Kiely, guest curated by Shannon Carroll. Opening at 3PM on Saturday, November 15th. All are welcome!

The river flows through Bernadette Kiely’s work as it does through her life. Living on the banks of the River Nore, she has borne witness to the shifting balance between water, land and those on its edges. Attentive to flooding, her work documents the impact of water on daily life to the ways in which communities respond to it. Her practice is grounded in slow observation: walking the river, listening to it, tracing its presence and noticing how it connects to wider cycles of change, from local floods to wildfires and environmental crises across the world.

This exhibition is presented as part of [K]nore Your River, a community-powered season of events, art, science and storytelling along the River Nore, inviting everyone to explore how the river shapes our identity and how we can care for it together. This community project was organised and led by SEA School Studios & Labs, a mobile learning centre dedicated to exploring Science, Ecology and the Arts in the field, whose mission is to reconnect communities to the many layers of diversity and knowledge in their local landscapes.

The Tea Houses are situated by the River Nore in Kilkenny city centre and have been acquired by Kilkenny Arts Office to host an art programme that encourages a sense of community and active citizenship.

Exhibition kindly supported by Kilkenny Arts Office and Kilkenny County Council. Co-presented as part of Science Week in Kilkenny.

Exhibition runs November 16th – 29th,
Open daily 11.30AM – 5.30PM
The Tea Houses, Kilkenny
Organisers Website

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