Category: CQAF2023 Visual Arts

‘The Lie of the Land‘ – Joanne Coates

Joanne Coates is a visual artist and documentary photographer working in the North East of England. Her new work The Lie of the Land, addresses the erasure of contemporary working-class histories and culture in the countryside.

Coates works at the intersection of socially engaged practice and traditional British documentary photography. The Lie of the Land explores the erasure of contemporary working-class histories and culture in rural communities. Based on 12 months of socially engaged work with twelve women living and working in rural or agricultural settings in the North East of England, and who identify as working class, The Lie of the Land tells the long-ignored social history of gender and class in these settings. Images, objects and spoken word testimony are combined to give an insight into the lives of these women that is both honest and revealing, as well as being tied to the artist’s own personal experiences of being a part of the communities she documents.

‘Our partnership with Photoworks has been further established through the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 4 Exhibition coming to Belfast Exposed this year. Both organisations understand that investment and commitment in early career artists is required to give them the opportunity to hone their skills and realise their ambitions. Heather Agyepong’s work drawing attention to black mental health is impactful and aids our understanding of racism and associated mental health issues. Meanwhile,  Joanne Coates’ work focused on the female working class voice in a community context is thought provoking and relevant in contemporary terms. Both are artists of the future and the here and now. It is important to bring them to bring them to Northern Ireland audiences’.

– Deirdre Robb, Director, Belfast Exposed

‘ego death‘ – Heather Agyepong

British Ghanaian visual artist Heather Agyepong has developed a new work for the Awards, entitled ‘ego death’, inspired by Carl Jung’s concept of ‘The Shadow’, it is a journey of discovery, exploration and acceptance of the self.

Seeking to unpick and discover the hidden aspects of her own personality, Agyepong’s work dissects issues of shame and repression through a series of double-exposed self-portraits and mixed media, to reveal hidden aspects of her true self. Exploring techniques including free writing/painting, observation, and self-reflection, Agyepong has produced twelve self-portraits using double exposure to create an arresting new visual language where her shadow characters are revealed.

ego death is a project about self-discovery, imperfection, compassion, and radical acceptance.

Tomas Monteiro is a ceramic artist based in Belfast. His practice examines the exploration of personal experience and his identity as a queer person. He approaches work as a syncretic experience of his life and expressions of his interests. He works with processes of mould-making, performance, sculpture, installation, and grounds his practice in ceramics. His recent work traverses the experience of a young queer artist who is self-examining ideas of queerness alongside simultaeneously trying to make sense of personal traumatic experiences he has experienced as a young queer artist including mental, physical and sexual abuse.

Bond of Memories
‘Bond of Memories‘ explores themes of connection in the context of the mind and queer sexuality. By way of ceramics, the show explores sexuality and love through the queer lens, questioning how connections occur and how queer people create and live with their chosen family. Central to Bond of Memories is the idea that experiences create inter-personal links and these links become a chain; as the chain gets larger it creates weaknesses.

“I think of memories and my mind as a chain, a chain of memories from the good ones to the bad ones. The show takes big inspiration from my childhood and core memories of it as it grabs inspiration from one of my first games; Kingdom Hearts.

When I started to think about this show I wanted it to represent my mind and how we as people have experiences that shape us. Using ceramics, audio and elements of multidisciplinary practice I was able to create this show to represent different experiences, good and bad while still pulling inspiration from core childhood memories.” – Tomas Monteiro

Cá a ndeachaigh mé? Where am i going?

“Cá a ndeachaigh mé?” is a 16mm experimental film that delves into how emigration can transform our sense of self, sometimes requiring us to leave not only our home geographically but also linguistically. The film follows a young couple’s emotional journey from the countryside of Donegal to Glasgow, as they navigate new cultural landscapes.

Through a dynamic and poignant soundscape, the film highlights the challenges that come with moving and acclimatising to a new place, and how this often can lead to a morphing of both identity and relationships.

Artists

Fionnuala McCormack – Director
Lia Campbell – Producer
Étáin Saoirse Sweeney – Audio Director & Co Creator

Production Company: Dumbworld

Funders

With support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Meath County Council Arts Office and Creative Ireland