Linenhall Arts Centre Curator-in-Residence, Séamus Nolan introduces GUIDES, a major new project and exhibition created in collaboration with the Arts Council and local community groups across Mayo.
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Arts Council's permanent collection, the GUIDES project and exhibition in the Linenhall Arts Centre activated engagements between different groups and organisations in Castlebar towards artworks from the collection, with contributions from those who advocate for the sharing of public space, amenities and services for all members of our communities.
The groups involved in selecting the artworks and developing the various responses include OutWest, INVOLVE, Hearth, The Mayo Rollers, Artsquad Mayo, Birdwatchers Mayo, the black metal group GOURD, Limerick Rapper Willzee, photographers, and artists such as Breda Mayock who worked with Celesta Khosa, Owodunni Ola Mustapha, Fathi Mohamed and Madhviram Sing on the vocal piece, What Colour is the Soil in the gallery.
Some of the issues that emerged reflect the cohabitation of diverse social, cultural and subjective needs, and the types of infrastructural support required to maintain actionable and sustained engagement with communities.
and Owodunni Ola Mustapha at the Linenhall (Pics: Alison Laredo)
Bringing artworks or displaying artworks in the Linenhall gallery does not mean the work is accessible, and without access there is no agency. The Hearth project is an excellent example of artists working to bring art to older people confined to their homes, or care facilities across Mayo. For six years, the project struggled to fund this unique service, and in a very brief encounter in July we brought the 1940 painting The Black Lake by Gerard Dillon on a day trip to St Colman’s care centre on Achill Island, where participants worked with artist Maggie Morrison on their own paintings, providing the backdrop to a rich and very special conversation.
While physical access to the Linenhall is ensured by providing proper wheelchair access, toilets and baby changing areas etc, increasingly we might come to discern qualities of public space and architecture which present qualitative or even culturally specific historic issues, that amount to very real exclusions.
What became apparent with Count Me In, a support organisation for young adults with varying levels of autism, was the need to create a sensory map of the Linenhall building for people who are sensory or neurodivergent. Working with artist Fiona Dowling, the group explored the artworks as a means of discussing issues of accessibility, prompting ideas on how to engage with the artworks, and how the artworks might engage the viewer.
Digging deeper, unique social and cultural barriers to participation are addressed through artworks such as RISE by Benjamin de Burca and Bárbara Wagner. The video work selected for GUIDES is based on the phenomenon of minority communities creating safe and inclusive spaces that foster self-expression and healing through performance arts and storytelling.
Working with INVOLVE, a support and inclusion service for young people from the Travelling community, along with Music Generation Mayo, the Linenhall gratefully secured funding to host an event for Traveller Pride Week involving spoken word artist and rapper Willzee performing alongside local singer Meena Collins.
The works of Nano Reid, Charlie O Neill and Leanne McDonagh showcased became the subject of an article written by Rosaleen McDonagh, who describes a need for spaces of subjective encounter and reappraisal by members of the Travelling community in our social cultural and political spaces.
GUIDES is at the Linenhall Arts Centre, Mayo, until September 3rd - find out more here.
