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Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green
AN artist living in west Kerry has been awarded this year’s Visual Arts Residency at Siamsa Tíre. Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green took up her residency on July 1 and the residency will culminate in a public event for Culture Night on September 20.
This residency aims to reflect creatively on the impact of Climate Change on Siamsa Tíre’s local community and to use cultural practice as a way to communicate an imagined future with a local and international audience.
Born in Hull, Yorkshire, Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green studied at Wyke College (Hull), the University of Wales in Aberystwyth and most recently at the Crawford School of Art in Cork. For the past 12 years, she has been living and working in West Kerry.
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Zoë’s practice covers a wide range of artforms, particularly dance and visual arts. She has made artworks, films and performances with groups of children and people with special needs. She is a skilled and experienced visual artist, dancer and facilitator, and works in a range of media including drawing and film.
Most recently, Zoë performed in Cláirseach ina dTost (The Harp Silenced) devised and performed by Giorria theatre collective at the Mick Lally Theatre in Galway in May of this year.
As part of Féile na Bealtaine 2019, Zoë took part in Tógra 8 Project 8 where eight artists created micro residencies throughout Dingle. In 2017 and 2018, Zoë produced A Walk In My Shoes, a project with the Dingle Camphill Community with an award from Create’s Artist in the Community Scheme.
Zoë is passionate about nature and biodiversity and tries to live sustainably. Her work increasingly focuses on environmental issues and she believes that we can learn deeply through engagement in creative activities.
In responding to the brief of the residency which focuses on the challenge that climate change represents to coastal communities, Zoe plans to engage with the local community in Tralee and around Siamsa Tíre.
She hopes to nurture a cultural shift in understanding and initiate a call to action in an enjoyable and inclusive manner.
Commenting on her appointment, Zoë has stated: “I am delighted to have been appointed as Artist-In-Residence at Siamsa Tíre this summer. The residency is a wonderful opportunity which I’m very grateful for and excited about. I’m particularly looking forward to engaging creatively with the people of Tralee and Kerry. I hope we will learn from each other in order to deepen our understanding of what the future may hold for us and how we may rise to the challenges that climate change will bring to our coastal communities.” Zoe continued, “Making particular reference to the predicted rising sea levels, and through map-making, I intend to ask the question, ‘What is home?’. By engaging with nature through art, I will respond artistically to the hopes and fears that arise.”
Visual Arts Curator, Catríona Fallon noted: “Artists have the capacity to communicate difficult issues to their audiences. We are delighted to be working with Zoe to engage with local communities creatively on how we confront and adapt to climate change.”
As part of the residency, Siamsa Tíre will work with Zoë to calculate the carbon footprint of any associated travel.
Every effort will be made to minimise the residency’s carbon footprint and there will be regular updates on social media as the residency progresses.
There will be a number of public events associated with this residency, including community engagement initiatives.
