Supporting artists. Supporting us #rteilluminations
“There are, I imagine, many people for whom Now feels interminable. I want to believe that there is scope for all kinds of art to interrupt the perpetual uncertainty, and frankly the crapness of living through an ongoing catastrophe, with moments of beauty or captivating strangeness.” – Isabel Nolan
From spring to autumn 2020, we have lived through a different sort of season, halting normality, forcing change, bringing fear and stress. Art helps us to understand our experience so that we can begin to heal, as individuals and as a nation. Illuminations is an online gallery of 30 works commissioned by RTÉ exploring the shades of lockdown. Launching on Wednesday, 7 October and rolling out from then to early December, it features visual art, photography, film, music, poetry, essays and spoken word pieces from a wide range of established and emerging creative talent. Following on from the Shine summer concert and Easter’s Shine Your Light, Illuminations aims to capture and channel how people are feeling, to shed light on what’s important, to foster solidarity and build resilience.
The artists
Hazel Coonagh lost herself in embroidery and gave thanks for the fact that the Phoenix Park was within her 2km. Leanne McDonagh was inspired by kinship, always a strong feature of the Traveller community and one that she felt grew even stronger during the pandemic. Ayesha Ahmad found herself locked down with her grandparents in Galway and created photographic portraits of them in nature. Jeanette Lowe focused on what she calls the invisible frontline in Pearse House flats – people working not only in hospitals but in resource centres and credit unions, as home helps and on flight crews, keeping life going. Megan K. Fox, who also works as a director on Fair City, made a mockumentary about dating during lockdown, called Love in the Time of Corona. And with outside life on pause, Sara Baume magnified details of her house and garden in an essay and photographs.
These were just some of the responses of the 30 artists who were commissioned by RTÉ to explore the shades of lockdown for the online gallery.
You see nature coming through strongly as a source of comfort in some of the work; in others the importance of personal ties shines through. Some of the artists found working on the commissions led to a spurt of creativity after a period of stalled uncertainty or anxiety.
More works will be added to Illuminations all the way along up to early December. There is music coming from Daire Patel, Cormac Begley and Ye Vagabonds. A film by Enda Walsh will be from the point of view of a woman in an empty care home, Pat Collins is making a short film about the sea, with music by Linda Buckley. There was a big uptake in computer games during the pandemic and imagery from games is one of the inspirations for a film from Bassam Al-Sabah. And to complete the range of a gallery that features visual art, photography, film, essays and poetry, there will be an Irish language spoken word piece with shades of rap by Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabhain!
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