Kian Benson Bailes - Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin 21 Angels and Then Some...

This exhibition opens on Saturday 24th May from 2 - 4pm, all welcome.

Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin is an exhibition in four parts by Kian Benson Bailes which, in its various iterations, has comprised sculpture, digital & material collage, musical instruments, ceramics, textiles, woodwork, and live sculptural sound elements.

Originally commissioned by Project Arts Centre, it references Irish folklore, mythology and craft traditions in an exuberant expression of rural queer experience.

In Mermaid Arts Centre, Kian will present a new version of this work, 21 Angels and then some... which follows on from the presentation in Limerick City Gallery, Songs from the Leeward Slope and in the Regional Cultural Centre - Letterkenny, Self-Actualiser.

21 Angels and then some... will include new ceramic sculptures and sound-producing ‘instruments’ which represent the culmination of a process of investigation of Irish folk traditions, songcraft, musical instrument fabrication and musical storytelling.

The ceramic instruments have been a thread running through the four iterations of the touring exhibition, with this new and final version being the realisation of the project and the completion of three years of making and researching. Each whistle is developed in relation to the artist's own experiences of playing the tin whistle in County Sligo.

The exhibition is accompanied by a commissioned poem by Annemarie Ní Churreáin that departs from the work's references to folklore and figures within Ireland's oral tradition of folktales and fairytales. It will be presented on a limited edition risograph printed poster designed by Alex Synge of The First 47, and is available for free from the gallery. .

Biographies

Kian Benson Bailes is an Irish artist residing in the northwest of Ireland. His multifaceted practice explores rural Ireland, visual language and identity. Other recent exhibitions include Matters of Table, Gorey School of Art, Wexford (2023), and Hashtag WIP, Roscommon Arts Centre (2023).

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet from the Donegal Gaeltacht, Ireland. Her books include Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017), Town (The Salvage Press, 2018) and The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press, 2021). She is a recipient of the Irish Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award. Ní Churreáin has held literary fellowships in the U.S. and throughout Europe. She was the 2022-23 Decades of Centenaries Artist in Residence at Donegal County Archives. Ní Churreáin is the Poetry Editor at The Stinging Fly Magazine.