Thursday 27 October 2016

Event at The Guesthouse arts centre, Cork


A performance artist called Sinead O'Donnell who is completing a residency in Cork has been writing her thoughts and experiences on her facebook page and I really liked what she was writing. It wasn't just the content which made images spring to mind, but it was the fantastical use of description, pulling in people from myth and from fame. 


So I messaged her and asked if she would be interested in my illustrating what she wrote. And the result is a series of visual comic strips which has been included in an event at her residency. 


The collaboration is an performance and installation event that takes place at 7pm on Thursday 27th October 2016 at The Guesthouse arts centre in Cork, Eire. Other collaborators are Irene Murphy and Catherine Harty. Food is shared at The Guesthouse events and on the Thursday menu is: Seafood Ramen and Rice Ball with Fermented Vege. 

The following are a series of drawings created directly from what Sinead wrote on the days of her residency. What is made is a visual comic strip that can stand on its own or be read as an illustrative text to Sinead's writings. I drew images that formed in my mind as I read her words and sometimes these may not echo what the writer intended. A confusion develops. Further fantasy evolves.


Day 1


Day 2



Day 3



Day 4


Day 5


Days 6 & 7


Day 8


Day 9


Day 10


Days 11 & 12


Days 13, 14 & 15






Days 16, 17 & 18



Undressing the Architrave
Thursday 27th October 2016 The Guesthouse
Sinéad O’Donnell, Roisín O’Hagan, Irene Murphy and Catherine Harty
This is a collection of action and intuition based works initiated by artist in residence
Sinéad O’Donnell that have developed through conversation, response to the city
and the experience of working and living within The Guesthouse. All works draw an
awareness to the ways of thinking embodied in specific spaces – the undressing of
the architrave. The physical properties of a space may sometimes obscure the ways
in which inter-activity is built into these structures. This is the reveal.
Sinéad O’Donnell’s Bleeding Venus questions how the notion of a place of display, a
butcher’s stall, disturbingly creates a way of thinking and looking parallel to our
dissection of the classical image of the female. Roisín O’Hagan brings a visual
narrative thread to Sinéad’s experience of navigating the city. Irene Murphy’s Bed
down is a growing installation that inhabits the existing library as a bedroom ,
Catherine Harty ‘s Ghost-worker charts the way an abandoned space may give rise to
fragile, floating and unhinged ways of being.
John Thompson

Sinéad O’Donnell
Sinéad O’Donnell is a Belfast based artist her work is rooted in performance art. She often uses her body to investigate both her own and cultural boundaries, particularly in relation to the restrictions placed on women. Despite deliberately avoiding the sensationalisation of the body, her works often promote strong reactions and emotions.
Video installation: Bleeding Venus
Location: ground floor sittingroom and second floor project space.
Performance: 8.00pm second floor project space.

Roisín O’Hagan
Roisín O’Hagan is an artist and disability activist based in Belfast who responded online to Sinéads social media blog written during her residency at the Guesthouse. Roisin created a graphic interpretation of this dyslexic narrative which Sinéad has compiled together with her text to create a series of comic strip drawings.
Drawings: Ink interpretation
Location: Stairwell

Catherine Harty
Catherine Harty is a Cork based artist who works in a variety of media including painting,
photography and video. She holds a Masters in Contemporary Art Theory from NCAD, and
Fine Arts Practice from Birmingham School of Art, University of Central England.
Video installation: Ghost-worker
Location: First floor office space
Creative Destruction, stuck in the ruins, buildings past and future, boom and
bust.....................flat lining.

Irene Murphy
Irene Murphy is a Cork based artist who questions the role of the artist, creative space, and
engages with a broader concept of creativity. A common link in her art is ideas about
performativeness, site specificity and communality with Murphy’s art acts being private
interventions into public space.
Habitat: Bed Down
Video installation: Breaking with stone
Location: First floor library

(info from The Guesthouse)







(for Kay, my sister, my art teacher and my patron)




Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

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