‘Go Home (2010 – 2013)’ and ‘Out the Road (2011 – 2013)

GO HOME (2010 – 2013), 2013Four-film installation (HD/4K with stereo sound): Film 1, 37’ 33”; Film 2, 27’ 45”; Film 3, 25’ 27”; and Film 4, 25’ 10”. OUT THE ROAD (2011 – 2013), 2013Multiple-film installation (HD/4K with stereo sound): Film 1, 41’ 41”; Film 2, 41’ 19”; Film 3, 2’00”.Two separate and extensive bodies of film-based research resulting in two multi-film installations (‘Go Home’ and ‘Out the Road’) first published through solo exhibitions with Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and NCAD Gallery, Dublin (2013) and with Void (2013/14) as part of UK 2013 City of Culture programme.Building on the body of research that resulted in the film-based work When I Leave These Landings (2004 – 2009), ‘Go Home (2010 – 2013)’ examines ex-paramilitary-prisoners’ mediation and construction of identity upon leaving the familiar structures and community of prison life, reintegration with society, and the impact of shifting ideological positions on self. The research extends knowledge regarding the prisoner in society, specifically the post-release experience of ex-prisoners. Methods consider trust and dialogue in pedagogical and research relations (Oury, Arendt, O’Donnell), encountering extreme points of view, entering and sustaining dialogue, and who has the right to speak and with whom. In so doing, the research also aims to address the issues of ethics and representation involved in such a practice. The process has produced supporting notes in the form of filmed roundtable discussions regarding art and education in prisons (2010) with ex-prisoners, artists and academics. The research aims to extend the reach of lens-based art practice and other forms of qualitative and practice-based research to areas as diverse as public policy, education and health. ‘Out The Road (2011 – 2013)’ builds on the research undertaken with When I Leave These Landings (2004 – 2009) and Go Home (2010 – 2013). ‘Out The Road’ addresses the impact that membership of a clandestine paramilitary organisation can have on the families of those involved, especially imprisonment: managing personal and family relationships with a partner/father/son in prison; mediating relationships in the period after release; financial loss; logistical and emotional challenges associated with engaging with police, courts, prison; managing prisoners expectations; relationship challenges post-release; and the complexity of inter-generational relations. Ethical issues relating to the representation of participants and their rights over the films play an important role in the methodology, form and content of the work. As with ‘Go Home’, the research aims to extend the reach of lens-based art practice and other forms of qualitative and practice-based research to areas as diverse as social studies, public policy and governance. In so doing, the research seeks to highlight the complex issues surrounding the ethics of representation involved in such context sensitive environments and signal possible strategies for genuine informed consent. ‘Out the Road’ was part funded through an Individual Artists Award from UK City of Culture 2013.Exhibitions in Dublin and Derry were supported by ‘The Impossible Conversation’, a series of public talks and symposium along with a set of printed pamphlets which explore themes raised by the work. The research has been discussed at ‘The Impossible Conversation’, a series of public talks and symposium at NCAD Gallery, Hugh Lane and Void (2013-14). Excerpts have been part-screened/presented/discussed at events such as: AICA Censorship Colloquium, Belfast, 2012; ‘Public-Education’, Grad-Cam/TheLab. Dublin, 2012; Re-Imagining Imprisonment in Europe’, Trinity College Dublin, 2012; ‘Engendering Dialogue, Univ Dundee, 2012; ‘A Sense of Being’, Grundtvig symposium, NCAD, Dublin, 2011; European Prison Education Association Conference, Manchester, 2011.