In collaboration with ISA Art and Design, the Embassy of Ireland in Indonesia and Jakarta Land presents "Ireland's Eye," an art exhibition featuring six emerging artists whose artistic talents were forged in the postgraduate Fine Art studies in Dublin, Ireland. The inspiring artworks are showcased at World Trade Center 2 Jakarta from March 17th to June 17th, 2022.

These artists are Anishta Chooramun, Jamie Cross, Louis Haugh, Vanessa Jones, Bara Palcik, and Ciara Roche, who originally come from Mauritius, Cavan, Dublin, Tennessee, the Czech Republic, and Wexford, respectively. They bring a nuanced and fresh approach to these questions of individuality and globalization, history and identity, and how artists create works about themselves and the places they call 'home' in the 21st century.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Mark Joyce (@mark_joyce_)

Using a variety of artistic approaches, the six talented artists grapple with fundamental questions that confront us all, such as what defines our individual and collective identities; and whether childhood memories, objects from our past, gendered bodies, parenthood or a sense of place and 'home' shape who we are. These six artists explore how we represent ourselves in a 'place' like Ireland in this exhibition.

Curated by Mark Joyce (@mark_joyce_) from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and Dr. Sarah Durcan (@durcansarah) of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin,  'Ireland's Eye' is a new exhibition exploring the idea of the visual arts as a critical 'eye' on an increasingly connected yet polarizing world.

The Artists

Anishta Chooramun (@anishtachooramun), born in Mauritius, explores the displacement and the forever-changing aspect of identities. She has been working on a sculptural interpretation of the dance, performed by nomadic travelers. She focuses on elements of ritual and storytelling within the classical dance tradition of Kathak (Indian Dance), finding ways to translate gestures from physical performance into objects.

Jamie Cross (@crossjamie) explores everyday household objects and the spaces they occupy. Through his work, he tries to answer the question, when does space begin? He is interested in exploring uninhabitable areas and producing the concept of that space through one's experience.

Louis Haugh (@louishaugh) works across photography, video, and installation towards the gallery and non-gallery-based outcomes. His practice covers ecology, history, sociology, identity, and place, with his long-term research project looking at the history of commercial forestry in Ireland and the colonial past that led to Ireland's deforestation up to 1850 and the subsequent reforestation of post-independence Ireland over the last century.

Vanessa Jones (@vanessaleejones81) is a figurative painter whose practice explores themes around the 'feminine' using self-portraiture. Working traditionally in oils, she employs the history of Western painting alongside medieval and primordial symbolic associations, engaging with myth, beauty, replication, and duality related to feminine archetypes. Her 'personas' inhabit familiar yet unknown landscapes rich in cultural symbolism. As 'self-portraits,' the paintings conflate Western and Eastern cultures to reflect her own dual American and Korean heritage.

Bara Palcik (@palcik4) explores identity, loss of identity, belonging, and the 'in-between' space of not belonging anywhere. The ideas are considered not only in terms of place but also sexual identity, sexual preference, and the in-between-ness of non-binary identities. Bara's inspiration comes from her memories and life experience growing up in the Czech Republic.

Ciara Roche (@ciara.roche) explores the experience of everyday public places. She observes how people move through these spaces, such as gas stations, and luxury retail displays, where one is encouraged to spend both time and money. Through detailed research and painted representations, she explores how these places are constructed to facilitate needs and how the attainment of material objects measures a person's success. It shows us how we are constantly seeking the next thing to make us happy, but inevitably, it never does.

These artists are recent graduates from the Irish fine art master's programs at the Institute of Art, Design, and Technology (www.iadt.ie; @myiadt.ie) and the National College of Art and Design (www.ncad.ie; @ncad_dublin) in Dublin, Ireland. The Institute of Art Design and Technology has 2,500 students, and it is the home of the National Film School, one of Variety magazine's Top Film Schools for 2020 —  the first time that an Irish school has made it onto this prestigious roll call. The National College of Art and Design, founded as a Drawing School in 1746, is Ireland's oldest art and Design institution, a vital member of the European League of Art Institutes, a recognized college of University College Dublin, and situated in a renovated Distillery in the heart of Dublin city.