Manifesto, a new film by Anthony Haughey, will be screened in the Irish Arts Centre, New York from 18 April until 1 May 2016. This is Haughey’s contribution to the group show Proclamation, an exhibition of new lens-based works from artists Andrew Duggan, Jazmin Chiodi & Alexandre Iseli, Olwen Fouéré, Frances Hegarty & Andrew Stones, Nigel Rolfe, and John Scott which engages with the centenary of the 1916 Rising, redefining definitions of ‘proclamation’ and what it is ‘to proclaim’. It will tour to Paris, Brussels and London as well as various venues in Ireland throughout 2016. Manifesto explores notions of contested citizenship, reflecting the idealism and egalitarianism of a republic composed of equal citizens, imagined by Connolly, Pearse and the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation: ‘The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its citizens’. The film is supported by an Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Projects Award.
Closer to home, Haughey’s film UNresolved will be screened on Saturday 23 April, at 2pm, Queens Film Theatre (Belfast Film Festival). Following the screening Anthony Haughey will discuss the legacy of Srebrenica with journalist Ed Vulliamy who reported extensively for the Guardian in the mid-1990s war in Bosnia. UNresolved reflects on the 20th anniversary of genocide in Srebrenica, where in 1995 more than 8000 men and boys were systematically murdered by The Bosnian Serb army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladic. The title relates to the UN Security Resolution 819, passed on the 16th April 1993 declaring Srebrenica as a ‘safe’ area for refugees – the prelude to what was the largest act of genocide in Europe since the holocaust. For more on this work see Stephanie McBride’s essay ‘Landscape as Witness’ in Irish Arts Review, Winter 2014, p82.
Photography’s power to influence our perception of the natural world and its fragility has been gaining impact with the rise in awareness of climate change.
Touring Ireland over the past six months, ‘The Reason of Towns’ celebrates the design qualities of Irish towns and aims to motivate people to choose them as a place to live.
The winner of the 2024 RDS Taylor Art Award, given to the most promising emerging visual artist of the year in Ireland and worth €10,000, is Sorcha Browning.