15 - 24 October - Stát na mBan
Venue: DLR Mill Theatre
Tickets: Free
Stát na mBan (translation: The Women’s State / The State of Women) is a visual art exhibition and film installation in the DLR Mill Theatre, Dundrum, exploring gender-based violence, racism, migration, colonialism, feminism, silence, womanhood and women’s rights as human rights. The exhibition features visual artworks in the gallery space, a film installation in the Studio and is accompanied by a series of compelling poems in print form hung in the gallery.
Artists:
Sinead McCann
Hina Khan
Noelle McAlinden
Amna Walayat
Féilim James
Michelle Costello
Mary Moynihan
Stát na mBan (translation: The Women’s State / The State of Women) is a visual art exhibition and film installation in the DLR Mill Theatre, Dundrum, exploring gender-based violence, racism, migration, colonialism, feminism, silence, womanhood and women’s rights as human rights. The exhibition is presented as part of State of the Art: Nation State as Both Violator and Protector of Human Rights. The exhibition features visual artworks in the gallery space, a film installation in the Studio and is accompanied by a series of compelling poems in print form hung in the gallery. The exhibition features work from visual artists Amna Walayat, Hina Khan, Noelle McAlinden and Sinead McCann and poetry by Féilim James, Mary Moynihan and Michelle Costello.
Framed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a reflection on themes of gender-based violence, racism, migration, colonialism, feminism, silence, womanhood and women’s rights as human rights, this exhibition presents artworks from artists working with Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality. These works tell stories of hidden voices, gender discrimination, racism and fear intertwined with courage, radical self-representation and love. Stories hidden or denied in the past often live in liminal spaces until the time comes to move out of the shadows and into the light, finding expression through paintings, drawings, film work, poetry, original song and voice.
The exhibition features a video installation An Agreement of Silence by Sinead McCann, a showcase video artwork exploring women’s experience and the alliance of the church, the state and the broader community in the confinement, exploitation and abuse of women in Magdalene laundries in Ireland. An Agreement of Silence is created and directed by Sinead McCann with contributions towards text by Féilim James, voice recordings by Michelle Costello, voice, and an original composition and music by Elkin. The dancers are Vitor Bassi, Siobhán O’Connor and Mufaro Gambe, and choreography is by Kate Finnegan.
The exhibition features visual artworks by Hina Khan exploring racism and migration and visual artworks by Amna Walayat, exploring issues relating to women in Ireland, Pakistan and internationally, such as feminism, gender-based violence, reproductive rights, and women’s relationships with Church and State. Visual artist Noelle McAlinden is exploring aspects of the fragile and resilient female form, and a sense of isolation, retreat and self-preservation, as well as reflecting upon the fragility, isolation, disconnection and resilience of the human spirit.
The fragility of the human condition is portrayed by exploring the female form, a vessel of memories, life experiences, lost and found, on voyages of emotional reflection, brokenness, recovery and discovery and in some cases enlightenment.
