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arts · Monday 13 July 2026 · 11am-6pm (11am-8pm Thu-Sat) 
Presence by Sean Henry
At Festival Gallery and public spaces · William Street, Galway City; Eyre Square; Middle Arch, Claddagh, Co. Galway
At Festival Gallery and public spaces · William Street, Galway City; Eyre Square; Middle Arch, Claddagh, Co. Galway
Sean Henry places his figures where you least expect them - standing in a gallery doorway, sitting alone in Eyre Square, watching the tide from Middle Arch at the Claddagh. That quiet shock of recognition is exactly what Presence is built on. Running across two weeks of the Galway International Arts Festival, this free exhibition spans gallery and public space alike, and it rewards anyone who slows down long enough to notice what is standing beside them.
Henry is a British sculptor whose figurative bronze and resin works have appeared at Salisbury Cathedral, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and in a permanent offshore installation off the Northumberland coast. What marks his practice out is scale: figures are set just slightly larger or smaller than life, creating an unsettling familiarity - you recognise the posture, the stillness, the weight of a person lost in thought, but something is quietly off.
For Presence, Henry has created new pieces specifically for Galway. Indoors at the Festival Gallery on William Street, works occupy a white-walled setting that lets you get close and read every surface. Out in Eyre Square and at Middle Arch in the Claddagh, the figures compete with the actual public - passers-by, tourists, locals cutting through - and that is where the blurring of sculpture and reality becomes genuinely strange.
The show runs 11am to 6pm daily, with extended hours until 8pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. A gallery talk with the artist takes place on Tuesday 15 July at 11am. A touch tour runs on Thursday 16 July at 10am (booking required via giaf.ie). Relaxed hours on 15 and 22 July from 11am to 1pm.
Galway is served by Bus Eireann from Dublin (approx. 2.5 hours) and by Irish Rail from Heuston Station (approx. 2 hours). The Festival Gallery on William Street is a short walk from both the bus and train stations. Eyre Square sits at the top of Shop Street. The Claddagh is a 10-minute walk west along the waterfront. Pay-and-display parking operates in the city centre and is free after 5:30pm on weekdays and all day at weekends.
The festival runs two full weeks with theatre, music and street spectacle throughout the city, so Presence fits naturally into a longer day out. There is more to see in Galway and across Co. Galway.
Heading to Festival Gallery and public spaces in Galway? Galway has plenty more to see. Read the Galway area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.