“My plan to turn the Project Space into a hub of socially engaged / collaborative practice has worked out really well.
I’m collaborating with fellow Sampler Paddy Dennan in bringing the community art groups we work with into the Project Space to research, develop and build the main float for this year’s LGBT+ Pride Parade, in partnership with Cork Community Pride. We’re currently preparing some intensive workshop sessions ahead of the Pride Festival over the August bank holiday weekend.
We’re rooting our collaborative research in community activism, drawing on current events, archival news reels and a short film by a long-distance collaborator John Greyson (Toronto). John’s short film Gauze is a satirical reworking of the writings of Walt Whitman reframed as a call to action for the queer community to reassert our position at the frontline of anti-imperialist struggle. It will be screened in the Project Space to give some context to the work.
Alongside this, I’m also engaging in further transatlantic collaboration with queer community members in Cork and Toronto, working with them on a fantastical portraiture project based on a short story called Phantom Shore by my long-term colleague Yelverton Freeman.
Some really nice validation of all of this work came last week with a visit to the Project Space by Marc Miller (Canadian Culture Minister) and Dennis King (Canadian Ambassador). I got the chance to brief them on the work, which they were really open to.”