Event Details

Date

01/06/2024

Time

Opening Launch at 2pm
All are welcome!

Ticketing

Free admission

Event Type

Youth Arts, Exhibition,

Personal(c)ity is an exhibition showcasing a selection of works created by the Red Bird Youth Collective during 2023-2024. Red Bird Youth Collective is a group of likeminded young people (ages 15-24) from different backgrounds who come together to collaborate on engaging art projects with some of Ireland’s leading professional artists. Over the past nine months they have worked with artists Ruby Wallis and Vicky Smith to explore themes of The Body, The City and Identity.

Personal(c)ity presents the Red Bird collective’s ever-evolving voice, revolving around themes of the persona, the personal and the collective’s interface with the city of Galway. 

Ongoing explorations have taken shape through the lens of a range of media spanning cyanotype printing, digital photography, moving image, sculpture, painting and printmaking. This broad-ranging collection of approaches has informed the curation of the show, with each space representing the osmotic process of connection between processes. The collective are excited to present a thoughtfully curated selection of their work in the storied setting of Galway Arts Centre.

Redbird members grab cameras and set off in search of identities hidden in the streets of the city. Why do we decide to capture this image, in this place? What catches our eye? From observation in that urbanised environment, they return to the studio to explore the self on paper and transcribe bits of personal(c)ities through different materials. How do city and identity come together? In the end, are we the ones who change the city, or is it the city that changes us?’ 

– Anab Bonanno, Red Bird Collective Member 2024


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About Red Bird Youth Collective

Established in 2011, Red Bird Youth Collective is youth-led, meaning that members take ownership of projects and are involved in decision making from start to finish. Membership is free and open to any young person ( 15-24). The collective meet weekly to work with professional artists, gaining skills in various media, skills and artforms. 

The Red Bird Youth Collective 2024 is:

Claudia Barrasa

Anab Bonanno

Emily Carr

Eli Carroll

Lina Connolly

Isabel Yi Flecha Corbacho

Bri Donohoe

Oisín Flanagan

Aislinn Franco

Darragh Lawlor

Doireann Lawlor

Emily Leonard

Elia Merrien

Sarah Nolan

Eric O’Connell

Sean O’Laoghaire

Sophia Trieste


About the artists

Ruby Wallis is a visual artist working with lens-based media, she lectures at The Burren College of Art. Recent exhibitions include Whistling in the Dark, Galway Arts Centre, This Rural, Lismore Castle Arts, Engage, Photomuseum Ireland, Bones in the Attic, The Hugh Lane Gallery, PhotoIreland Festival, and Solas Nua, USA. She is supported by Arts Council Ireland.

Vicky Smith is a visual artist from Galway City. Her practice is rooted in painting, and is a painter on the Turps Correspondence Course ‘23-’24. She is the Education Co-ordinator at Engage Art Studios and FET Tutor in Fine Art Drawing at Galway Technical Institute. Recent exhibitions include Stocaí ó Saoirse, Artist Residency, Engage Art Studios Gallery, Galway (IRL), OXO, Outset Gallery, Galway,(IRL) & Infinite Possibilities, Galway International Arts Festival ‘23 (IRL). She is supported by Arts Council Ireland.


Special thanks to:

Emma O’Toole, Megs Morley, Tara O’Connor, Trish Heaney & St Joseph’s Community Centre, Rita McMahon & Engage Studios and Malachi Ó Marcaigh, Áras na nGael, The GAC Board of Directors for their continuing support & friends and family far and wide.

For more information about joining Red Bird Youth Collective please see here  or contact Red Bird facilitator James Hatton at james@galwayartscentre.ie

 

Red Bird Youth Collective is funded by Galway City Council and The Arts Council of Ireland Youth Ensemble Scheme.