Featuring new work by Freelands Fellow Ciarrai MacCormac in partnership with Belfast School of Art, the poet Kathleen McCracken in collaboration with the inimitable documentary filmmaking legend John T Davis, and a presentation of work by Mark Shields ... our Winter-Spring season of exhibitions aim to explore new ways of seeing and approaching materials, text and traditional image-making.
1st February to 1st March
Ciarrai MacCormac
After the fact is Ciarraí MacCormac’s first major solo exhibition, consisting of new paintings created during her Freelands Foundation Studio Fellowship at Belfast School of Art, Ulster University.
MacCormac’s work challenges the boundaries of where a painting practice can situate itself, both physically and conceptually, in order to form a dialogue with the exhibition space, and by extension, the viewer.
14th March to 16th April
Mustangs, or The Ballad of Gideon Light
Kathleen McCracken and John T. Davis
Mustangs, or The Ballad of Gideon Light is a photography/poetry collaboration between Northern Irish filmmaker and photographer John T. Davis and Belfast-based Canadian poet Kathleen McCracken. This exhibition brings together black and white stills of the American West selected from Davis’ archive and McCracken’s long poem sequence about a shapeshifting wanderer named Gideon Light, also known as Mustang.
25th April to 24th May
While Silence Gathers Up Its Shadow
Mark Shields
This recent collection of work by Mark Shields oscillates between structured forms and spontaneous gestures, navigating a spectrum from remoteness to intimacy. Figures drawn from obscure folk narratives, radiant objects, and emblematic minimalist panels coexist in an allusive and enigmatic dance, simultaneously referencing the tangible world and asserting their presence as independent entities. Creating contemplative spaces for dialogue