Truths Series | artist

Truth[s]

Truth[s] is a body of work which grew from a culmination of ideas and thoughts about the conflict in the north of our country.

While there are always political undertones in my work, I usually avoid addressing these directly. My understanding of the political background in Ireland and the north and south, continually evolves & changes.

I also acknowledge the duality of society in the north and aim to respect all points of view. I avoid making statements that I may no longer agree with at future date.

This duality is one of the main themes of this work.

Truth[s] as a plural statement, is my way of saying that real truth can have more than one version, and can be subjective, depending on one’s context. Again, to listen, to respect all points of view.

In a dual society, insulting terms can also be dual. Each insult can be countered or cancelled by its equal and opposite counterpart. Thus, this work also expresses the futility of sectarianism. The phrases and insults are presented in a straightforward, empirical manner, in my attempt to be entirely objective.

I made an experimental soundscape and film, Truth[s] depicting these equal and opposite slurs.

In the film-soundscape, I hum 2 songs, layered over each other, each song, a significant representation of both sides of this binary society.

Click HERE for link to film

Conflict Voyeurism - Tourism

Taxi tours, walking tours, mural tours.

I struggled with this concept of tourism, born out of bad times, an under statement if there ever was one.

Seeing tourists on the conflict trail in Belfast, I wondered what kind of souvenirs they would yearn for, trophies to accompany the bragging rights of having walked up the Falls Road, stood at the peace walls, peace gates, the republican plot.

With this in mind I made a series of plain white postcards, with sectarian terms empirically printed on the front.
Each sectarian term, or tribal phrase was had its equal and opposite term, or phrase.

I aimed to acknowledge both sides of this binary society.

When requested, I sent some of these cards through the post. It was during the centennial celebrations for 1916, so they had the beautiful commemorative stamps affixed to them, a sort of juxtaposition, between celebration, heroism and a subjective actuality.

Likewise, I made with a series of bullets, cast in white plaster, a soft, fragile material that altered the meaning of these bullets shaped objects. Again these were printed with the same threats and slurs.

I imagined these as small souvenirs, for tourists, trophies from their trip to a conflict zone.