Back on the block at davidmonahan.eu

  

There is no doubt about it, the world twists, it turns, things mutate, todays critical discourses are not the exchanges we were having six months ago. There is no doubt that from month  to month society is consumed by one subject or another and when the dust settles it always appears that most of the time spent paying attention to an unfolding narrative, was wasted time. Remember the Millenium Bug, or perhaps Brexit. They held our thoughts and were a major item of public discourse for years but now the story of Brexit seems to be disappearing from the everyday news as fast as that Bug story did at 12:01 on  January 1st  2000. 

There is a lot wrong with our world and a lot of it centres around divisions and polarities within peoples. Without getting into the whys and wherefores  of political and economic systems, we must look to ourselves to create a small world around our own personal contacts. We should do this with a humanity that exudes love, kindness, equality, all the time remaining curious about what we can do to build  better relationships with the world around us. Don't leave it up to the political classes, craft your own special relationships with all of those you come into contact with. Remain open to learn from others and give freely through positive actions.

One step on my continuing creative trajectory towards this goal is the creation of a new personal website at davidmonahan.eu

Above is the first photograph you will encounter on this new site.

It may take a few weeks for the data on this new site to overwrite the old data on the original David Monahan site but all should be good in a few weeks. And so 

I start to build and I hope the site will change frequently to mirror my own personal growth as I share our now smaller world..... its almost lilliputian!

  

Blues Singer Puts it up to Us

About a year ago my brother Ian played me a track he was working on, he had recorded the piece with Dublin Blues Legend Ditch Cassidy.  Ians last outing with Ditch spawned the rough and tumble 'We Built This House' A track about the financial collapse of 2007/8 which was used for the titles in Donald Taylor Blacks' excellent Feature film  Doc 'Skin in the Game' Which also featured musical contributions from Christy Moore and Barry Mc Cormack
I knew when I heard it it was some thing very special.
Around summertime we set about making a video for it, Earlier in the year I had an idea about a mysterious man in a white suit which I though might work for this presentation.
The Idea to build a sense of intrigue through sound and vision is played out  in this video,
For me it works so well, who is he, how does he relate to the singer, how does he relate to the allusions of the song and where will he take us.
Any how Ian has chosen now to release this song on youtube, and because of its spiritual nature this is probably the ideal time for this release. In order for it to succeed and raise the profile of this fantastic singer to the national level he deserves this project needs your shares.
Please go to the youtube page direct from this link and follow the links to embed  and share the work in your social networking feeds.

I will keep you all posted on where the work takes us.
Loads of love to you all,
David

CROSSING THE STREET # 2

I was delighted last week to meet with Lucky Khambule  a man who now lives in the town of Arklow, co Wicklow. Lucky was1.5 years in ‘direct provision’ before been given’ leave to remain’ in Ireland by the department of Justice. Lucky is a very striking presence who carries himself with dignity, respect for all and concern for those who remain in the unfortunate and unnecessary regime that limits their potential by means denying basic human rights.

CROSSING THE STREET

In an effort to add to the discourse around Direct Provision, to increase international awareness of its existence and in some small way to help bring an end to its madness, I will be adding my voice to those already active by starting a new series of photographs. Photographs of survivors of Direct Provision.
 Those who have passed through the system and come out the other end.

LET'S TALK II

All is proceding well at the National Photographic Archive, the exhibition is being enjoyed by a large diverse audience, some viewing it in a series of glances and others spending time with it, looking, watching, listening, hearing, communicating. The series of events around the exhibition have all gone well and I will report on all here at a later date.



For the moment I wanted to draw your attention to the last two events in the schedule announced in the last post, both at The National Library, Kildare Street.

Wednesday March 1st at 19.00. -  Beyond Home: new spaces for migrant belonging

                                                       Speaker - Professor Mary Gilmartin


                                                 Admission is free and no booking is needed


                                      Friday March 3rd 10.45 till 16.00 -  Picturing Migration.

  A conference which looks at representation of migrations in photography and the media
Admission is free  - To book click here



Here is what the library events page has to say about the upcoming event,

Professor Mary Gilmartin, from Maynooth University for this exploration of the issues around migration.

This lecture is one of a series taking place as part of the programme around the Beyond Leaving exhibition at the library’s National Photographic archive in Temple Bar, Dublin 2.

What does belonging mean?

Seeking to belong is a common human desire. But what does belonging mean when you are a migrant, living away from familiar places and people? In this talk, Professor Gilmartin will consider the ways in which migrants create new spaces of belonging and will use examples from the experiences of immigrants living in Ireland and Irish emigrants living in other countries to show how migrants seek to belong – whether this is through local communities or transnational citizenship – as well as the difficulties they encounter.

 Fridays event is the final move of my suite of presentations on and around this subject and it seeks to locate the discourse around recent Irish migration in context with recent global trends in migration.


It features five speakers who will each make a presentation on their work and a number of panel discussions around the topic of the day.

Speakers include Melanie Friend, photographer/artist and educator, Sarah Maria Griffin, author and project collaborator, Rory O'Neill, artist/researcher, Ciara Kenny, curator and editor of Irish Abroad/Generation Emigration (Irish Times) and Vukasin Nedelikovic artist/resercher (Asylum Archive). It will be hosted by David Monahan, Dr Justin Carville and Dr Mark Curran and will take place in the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street.


This is a free event but booking is essential,  to book click here

LETS TALK!

The show publication is available free at the venue

  I am delighted to announce that Beyond Leaving continues at the Gallery of the National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square until March 26th 2017.

Having been party to a two year research programme there is one message I took away from the experience. That is, that a major point of engagement with visual culture is to bring work to action by creating a dialogue around the areas of concern that have been identified by that research process.

After six weeks at exhibition we start the new year with an exciting programme of panels, presentations and discussions on various subjects in and around the theme of migration. These events have been organised in conjunction with the National Library of Ireland's Education Department,  IADT Dun Laoghaire, History Ireland and First Fortnight Mental Health Arts Festival. They will run over the remaining weeks of the exhibition finishing with a day long conference at the National Library, Kildare Street, entitled Picturing Migration. (March 3rd 2017)

The first of the events happens on Wednesday the 11th of January at 19.00 under the umbrella of the First Fortnight Festival 2017 and takes place at the venue Temple Bar.

As a young boy I had the realisation that my own mother was seriously effected by the loss of her entire family through emigration and this played a large part in the sadness and melancholic aura that I sensed from her as a  child. This realisations is probably at the heart of my desire to humanise the experience of the current, now seemingly parked statistic of recent  Irish net emigration. I am so delighted to be a part of a discussion about migration and mental health and look forward to audience participation with the panel including myself, Steve Cummins (journalist), Sarah Griffin (author and project participant), Mari-Claire McAlleer (National Youth Council researcher and advocate) and Brian O'Neill (multiple time emigrant and project participant).

Tickets for this free event can be booked at their website - just click this link   https://firstfortnight.ticketsolve.com/#/shows/873567669  this event is taking place next Wednesday 11th January 2017 at 19.00

Keep an eye out for the next update here where I will give details of all other events in the upcoming schedule.

BEYOND LEAVING IV

On Monday November the 14th Beyond Leaving came to life as an installation at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar, Dublin. As an exhibition it will remain open seven days a week until March 26, 2017.The show represents the culmination of 6 years work, with this particular component being the result of  a two year research process as part of the masters by research programme at IADT Dun Laoghaire.