Notes From Sheepland
Orla Barry is a self-confessed sheep addict. She is a decade in sheep, she’s still wondering what possessed her to start but yet she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Orla lived in Brussels for 16 years and now lives and works in South East Ireland where she runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep.
Her work deals with the tensions of being an artist and an eco- farmer in rural Ireland. The Sheep have slowed her art career but at the same, caring for them has hugely inspired it. She escapes the studio by going to the sheep, escapes the sheep by hiding in her studio. Notes from Sheepland follows Orla, an outlier, as she floats between these worlds. It reflects upon the primal, poetic and unpredictable bond she has with the natural world.
The screening will be followed by a short Q&A session.
Writer and Narrator: Orla Barry
Orla Barry is a visual artist and shepherd. She lived in Brussels for 16 years and now runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep on the coast of rural Wexford. Her artistic practice includes writing, performance, video and sound installation.
Performances include WoWmen Festival, Kaaitheatre Brussels, 2020; Playground festival, Museum M, Leuven, TAZ festival Ostend, 2019; Performatik 17, Brussels; Midsummer Festival, Cork 2017, Dublin Theatre Festival; 2016, Project Arts Centre 2014; Saturday Night Live, Tate Modern 2009.
Solo exhibitions include MuZee, Ostend 2019 (with Els Dietvorst), Argos, Brussels, Quetzal Art Centre, Portugal (with Rui Chafes), Wexford Art Centre, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 2017; TBG&S, Dublin 2016; Mothers Tankstation (2014, Dublin); CCB, Museu Bernardo, Lisbon 2011(with Rui Chafes); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2006); Camden Arts Centre & SMAK, Ghent 2005.
Director: Cara Holmes
Cara Holmes is a film editor and director and has worked on feature and short documentaries on a wide range of subjects, from the surreal world of self-experimentation to a visceral snapshot of choreographer and dancer, Oona Doherty.
Cara's editing credits include feature documentaries 'Piano Dreams', 'Father of the Cyborgs' and 'Lost in France'. Her directing credits include the award winning film 'Welcome To A Bright White Limbo'.
She has presented her work at festivals including Dublin International Film Festival, HotDocs, Sheffield Doc|Fest, Aesthetica, Catalyst Film Festival, IFI Documentary festival, GAZE, Offline film festival and the Edinburgh film festival. Welcome To A Bright White Limbo received a Special Jury mention at the Tribeca film festival in 2020 and won an IFTA for Best Short Film.