#PALETTEFORBEREISLAND 2017

Recipient of funding awarded by The Heritage Council of Ireland to work with community members of Bere Island, County Cork to create site-specific photographic colour palettes recording historical place names.

Collaborating with locals, initiating dialogue and documenting place name history & choosing paint colours for use in external painting projects on the island.

For more see Turfprojects.ie

#PALETTEFORRATHCROGHAN 2021

Site Specific Photographic Colour Palette

This identity building colour palette was produced in late 2021 to be used in way-marking along a number of walking and driving routes in the Rathcroghan area.

Rathcroghan, in County Roscommon, is known as the ancient capital of Connacht and the oldest and largest unexcavated royal site in Europe, and so, due to its archaeological significance, a light touch was needed when making any kind of intervention in the landscape.

All colours in the palette come from native Irish vegetation that thrives in the local climate. Each year the colours in this autumnal palette will naturally synchronise with elements of the landscape around the time of Samhain, an important time in the Celtic calendar and at this location where the festival of Samhain is said to originate.

The creation of walking routes in Rathcroghan is an ambitious project requiring the collaboration of a number of groups and individuals working together to protect our national heritage and to make a valuable amenity accessible to the wider community. Among those involved are Steve Larkin Architects, Helena Fitzgerald, Daniel Curley from The Rathcroghan Visitor Centre, Petra Kock Appelgren from Farming Rathcroghan and a large number of local farmers and land-owners.

For more see Turfprojects.ie

IRELAND: COLOUR SAMPLES, 2015 – 2022

Image with colour palette. Limited Edition A4 and A3 size Archival Fine Art Prints and A6 Postcard Sets.

This series catalogues the particular quality of light and colour experienced in the Irish landscape.

One of the series was chosen by PhotoIreland to be printed as part of their ‘Greetings from Ireland’ postcard project which has been exhibited Library Project Dublin, Photobook Melbourne and the Photo Triennial of Hamburg. Review of PhotoIreland exhibition from The Irish Times 6th December 2014 here.

Three of the limited edition prints have been acquired into the OPW Collection of Ireland (Office of Public Works).

Working with communities in West Cork and Roscommon, with funding from the Irish Heritage Council.  Site specific colour palettes have been chosen and put back into the landscape through community painting projects along public walkways.

Based on this project named among ‘The people to watch for 2016’ by The Irish Times.

For more information see Turfprojects.ie

NATIONAL GALLERY PROJECT 2005

Collaboration with visual artist Samantha Clarke and Casadh, a substance misuse recovery centre in Dublin 8.

This programme involved facilitation of workshops and a number of trips to art galleries and museums in Dublin.

The group chose to develop a project which centred on recreating pieces from a collection of paintings at the National Gallery of Ireland. The narrative use of painting and photography was discussed by the group, and baring this in mind, each participant chose one painting that resonated with their own personal experience. We then re-enacted each painting. This project resulted in a group exhibition of works at St. Catherine’s Community Centre, Dublin 8, and subsequently in the education space of the National Gallery of Ireland.

IRISH GREENS 2005
70cm x 52.5cm Lambda Print and Fleetwood Colour Card.

Awarded prize in ‘Utopias’ at Éigse Arts Festival Carlow 2006. Curated by Cliodhna Shaffrey.

This piece looks at the reduction of the world to idealised sign systems and the restrictive effect of such visual definitions which are constantly referenced in daily perception.

SUSPENDING DISBELIEF 2009
2 Videos, Projected Image and Suspended 3D Glasses.

The 3D glasses, which seem to levitate in front of the audience as they enter the installation space indicate the premise on which the work was made; as a reflection on systems of human knowledge and ways of seeing, which are inescapably linked to our physicality and embodied experience. These videos made in the format of homemade youtube ‘how to’ videos explain how to do simple levitation tricks.

‘Willed suspension of disbelief’ is an idea that is used here to explain how a modern, enlightened audience might continue to enjoy certain types of entertainment. It indicates an onus on the audience to participate in the creation and experience of illusionary or fictional events.

HERE AND THERE, HOME AND AWAY 2006
12 Screen Synchronised Video Loop Installation

The location and influence of ‘shared space’ was considered in the production of this piece. Clips from the popular Australian soap ‘Home and Away’ were shown directly opposite footage shot in Ireland mirroring the composition and editing of the original clips. The same blue-screen footage of a figure was inserted into the corresponding video loops. The choreography of the actor was limited and determined by the space in the original footage.

FAURÉ’S REQUIEM 2006, Carlow Cathedral
Performance, Orchestra, Choir, Photographic Lightboxes and Video Projections.

Collaboration with Aspiro (formerly Carlow Young Artists Choir) under the directorship of Mary Amond O’Brien. Creation of ‘light orchestra’ to accompany choral and orchestral performance of Fauré’s Requiem on the 30th of April 2006 in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow. A movement from darkness to light. Funded by The Arts Council.

The aim of this project was for the choir members to gain a deeper understanding of this requiem, exploring how the composer dealt with the theme of mourning and loss.

The presentation of the artwork sought to create an engaging and accessible experience for the audience. The images were displayed at a human level and scale, the audience could not see the overall picture, but had a slightly different perspective depending on their seated position, so becoming immersed in the performance.

Each choir member produced at least one piece of photography, animation or video work. The videos and animations were displayed on screens either side of the choir, while the photographs were displayed on light boxes that were placed throughout the crowd. The choir members had ‘scored’ the artworks, so that they would be illuminated throughout the performance in synchronization with the particular moment which had inspired them. As the requiem progressed, the chorister’s creations gradually illuminated the cathedral.

STRIPE 2002
C-type Lambda Print.

Image taken from series of site specific interventions and performances.

MAKE YOUR MARK 2007
Performance, photography, sound installation.
Collaboration with graffiti artist Tom McDonald and East Wall Youth.
Outreach project for Temple Bar Gallery & Studios

The aim of the project was to raise participants awareness of contemporary arts practice through engagement with the techniques of photography and graffiti writing. The work produced centered on the idea of transcience and mark making, which participants explored through stop motion animation, storyboarding, light graffiti, sound recording and photography.

An exhibition of the work was held in St. Mary’s Youth Club in East Wall in December 2007.

FORMAL LANDSCAPE 2005
120cm x 43cm C-Type Lambda Print.

Domestication of the Irish landscape.

A FIELD, IRELAND 2005
Installation Piece: 4’x 4’x 4′ Box, Fresh Grass Sods, Sound Recording, Postcards.

Immersion in Art and Nature: Is it possible to access reality beyond representation?

Exhibited at 3rd Year NCAD Fine Art Media show, Filmbase, 2005.

KAIROS CAPTURED, 2009.

Scratchcards, Perspex.

An interrogation of participatory spaces.

While the Greek word ‘kronos’ refers to chronological or sequential time, the word ‘kairos’ signifies a momentary break in the determined narrative of chronological time, a fleeting moment of opportunity. Thus kairos represents a significant and decisive moment of empowerment. Chance and determinism are prerequisite in this discourse of internal and external power.

When speaking of the Aristotelian articulation of ‘the citizen’ as ‘he who partakes in the fact of ruling and the fact of being ruled,’ French philosopher Jacques Rancière elaborates, ‘This formulation speaks to us of a being who is at once the agent of an action and the one upon whom the action is exercised’. Rancière continues to say that ‘everything about politics is contained in this specific relationship’ and he proposes that this ‘part-taking’ should be interrogated as to its conditions of possibility. *

*(Rancière, J, ‘Ten Theses on Politics’, Theory & Event, 5:3, 2001)