Come to GOMA Waterford for a special audio descriptive tour of ‘where oxlips and the nodding violet grows’, a solo exhibition by Joseph Heffernan, led by by the exhibition’s curator Aideen Quirke. This tour takes place as part of the 2026 Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s national festival celebrating the arts and ageing.

Audio descriptive tours are designed to make art accessible to everyone. In this tour, Aideen will guide visitors through the exhibition with rich, detailed verbal descriptions of the works, bringing the visual world of the show into vivid focus for visitors who are blind, have low vision, or are experiencing difficulties with their vision. As well as describing the works themselves, the tour will offer insight into their artistic and thematic significance, providing a deeper understanding of Heffernan’s layered and symbol-rich practice.

Aideen Quirke is independent curator and artist from Co Tipperary, based in Cork City.

Joseph Heffernan is an Irish artist based in Backwater Artist Studios, Cork. Working across painting, drawing, text and assemblage/installation his practice is concerned with identity, rituals, performance and how memory is constructed.

‘where oxlips and the nodding violet grows’ runs at GOMA Waterford from 9 May – 6 June 2026