Dig Where We Stand – Aoife Barrett & Kate O’Shea

DIG WHERE WE STAND – AOIFE BARRETT & KATE O’SHEA

Cork Printmakers Studio Gallery

24 May – 26 July 2024

10am-1pm Monday – Friday or by appointment

DIG WHERE WE STAND is a two-person exhibition at Cork Printmakers Studio Gallery that examines the socially engaged art practices of Aoife Barrett and Kate O’Shea.

DIG WHERE WE STAND transforms the studio gallery into an experimental space for discussion and activity around sustainable creative practices and the role of friendship, networks, safe spaces and studio practice within this framework.

The exhibition maps the ecosystems that feed collaborative practice and that nourishes the artists’ work, while also addressing contradictions within socially engaged arts practice.

Moving between embedded practice and practice on the road, artists Aoife Barrett and Kate O’Shea are committed to building more sustainable creative practices through collaborative community projects. Acting as a window into the interconnected projects that both artists work on, the exhibition looks at how they work to embed the caring and sustainable processes found in their socially engaged practices into their own individual practices.

The exhibition includes printed objects from previous projects including: The People’s Kitchen, The People’s Garden, The Crop, The Shop and The Table, How Much Is Enough?, The Long Lawn, Nom Nom Cafe, Tipperary Food Producers Travelling Residency and Found Links.

Cork Printmakers Studio Gallery is a space for presenting work developed or produced within the studio below. It aims to present contemporary and expanded print practice by members and partners of Cork Printmakers. The gallery celebrates printmaking as an active medium for collaboration, experimentation, and exchange.

This exhibition is presented as part of a series of exhibition’s taking place in 2024 for Cork Printmakers Climate Action Exhibition programme at Cork Printmakers Studio Gallery. Future exhibitions in the series: ARCTIC ARCHIVE, Elize De Beer (Oct – Nov 2024).

BIOGRAPHIES

Aoife Barrett

Aoife Barrett graduated with an M.A. in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West England in 2015 and holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from Limerick School of Art and Design (2010) and BA (Hons) Degree in Archaeology from University College of Cork. Since setting up UNIT10, an artist-run social space in Bristol (2014), she has focused on communal situations that use the printmaking process as a tool for public participation, learning and a vehicle for social change. Aoife has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Ireland and internationally, including exhibitions in Lithuania, Croatia, UK, Germany, Slovenia, Greece and Hong Kong. Recent awards include Create Artist in Community Award (2023), Creative Ireland Tipperary Project Award (2023, 2022 & 2021), the Arts Council Arts Participation Bursary Award (2022), Arts Council Agility Award (2021), Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary (2020), the inaugural Portiuncula University Hospital Visual Artist in Residence (2019) and Age & Opportunity Artist in Residence in a Care Setting (2019).

Kate O’Shea

Kate O’Shea is an artist working across printmaking, large-scale installation, performance, and publishing. In March 2023 HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? Kate O’ Shea and The Just City Residency; Reflections on an embedded practice at the intersection of art and activism was published by Half Letter Press (Chicago), Common Ground (Dublin 8) and Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts. In 2021, Kate co-organised Networks of Solidarity with Dr. Enya Moore, an online event series aimed at strengthening transnational networks of solidarity from Dublin 8 to Gadigal Country (Sydney, Australia). In late 2021 Kate began a process of critical reflection and review of twelve years of her artistic practice with mentor Dr Ciaran Smyth, Vagabond Reviews. Gravity Express #1 is a publication device which they co-constructed with a view to sharing some insights from that mentoring process. Kate is co-founder with Victoria Brunetta of independent publishing house Durty Books. They are currently publishing www.theartistledarchive.com. In 2015, she co-founded The People’s Kitchen, drawing threads from NomNom Café, the first social space Kate set up in 2009 -2014 in the south-west of Ireland. Kate has collaborated with Aoife Barrett through Print Van Go since 2019. Kate is a member of Broken Fields Collective and Red Wheelbarrow Productions. Kate has a Masters by Research in Printmaking as a space for solidarity and dialogue.