RESEARCH AND PROCESS
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COLLATION 5 – OBSERVATION
RESEARCH AT THE CENTRE FOR THE LESS GOOD IDEA | JOHANNESBURG
In July 2026 I spent time at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, invited to observe the Pepper’s Ghost workshops during Collation 5. The invitation grew from my earlier involvement with the Centre in 2021, when I participated in a mentorship programme.
This time became an opportunity to observe the unique and generous forms of collaboration at the centre. To observe how artists from different disciplines worked together and to think about how different ideas can move and interact between disciplines, performance, film and drawing. My observations of the Pepper’s Ghost workshops have fed into my own research into the possibilities presented by the device and the legacies of industrialisation, opening up a new way of thinking about how this historical technology can be reactivated by contemporary cross disciplinary practice.
During my time in Johannesburg, I also presented aspects of this research and my wider multidisciplinary practice at Wits University, as part of the Arts in Conversation programme.
Many thanks to Bronwyn Lace and Athena Mazarakis for the invitation and generosity, and to everyone at The Centre for the Less Good Idea for allowing me to observe and learn from the process.
A very stimulating experience that I know will continue to feed into my work.
Documentation of Collation 5, Centre for the Less Good Idea, Courtesy of The Centre for the Less Good Idea.
LIVING ARCHIVES – Sligo 2025 – ongoing
Ongoing research and experimentation connected to the landscape around a small farm in County Sligo.
This process forms part of my wider interest in ecological storytelling, place, cultural memory and different systems of knowledge. Working through drawing, animation, photography, painting, found materials and constructed forms, I explore how close observation of place can feed into the development of new work.
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Ecological Storytelling
The research includes ecological restoration,embodied research and ecological storytelling from diverse cultures.
This ongoing process feeds into my expanded painting practice, where painting can extend into material, spatial and temporal forms. More to show later..
Ecological Restoration Research
The research includes ecological restoration, trees, meadow, woodland and the traces of human and natural histories within the landscape.
I have written an article for the DBS Applied Research Journal Vol 2 titled: ‘Rewilding Plans for a Farm in Sligo’. On reflection, I think I would have changed the title to ‘Ecological restoration plans for a farm in Sligo’: https://journal.dbs.ie/index.php/dbs/article/view/147
Magpies in Irish folklore..
The magpie arrived in Ireland around 1676, apparently blown across the Irish Sea from Britain. Almost immediately, it became entangled in stories of English settlement and colonial presence. Solomon Richards, Particulars Relating to Wexford and the Barony of Forth (1682). Dúchas reproduces the relevant local folklore and Richards’ account.
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