The work of migrant and culturally diverse artists living in Ireland is to be celebrated as part of a new series of online exhibits titled “Against the Odds". The event has been organised by the Centre for Creative Practices and is part of their annual New Voices of Ireland Series. The final projects which include film, poetry, visual art, performance and music will be premiered weekly, until April 1st, via the Centre's Youtube channel. Following each premiere, a public Q/A session will take place with the artists through Zoom.
Seventeen artists were selected to take part in this year’s programme through a competitive open-call process. Amongst the projects to go on display, artist Imogen-Blue is presenting a short film titled “Bed of leaves'', that draws upon her personal experience as a Latinx Trans woman. Gboyega Akerele, a musician and music producer from Nigeria, has composed an afrobeat soundtrack titled “Ashe''. Leia Mocan, a multimedia artist originally from Romania has created a video piece that recalls the unique historical events of 1980’s Communist Romania. Brazilian dancer and artist Diviane Helena and Irish visual artist Barbara O’Meara have collaborated on a collection of videos about ancestry, femininity and traditional sacred rituals. Nkosikhona Ngcobo, a South African born designer and Irina Maldea, a documentary filmmaker originally from Romania, have collaborated on a video piece that explores themes of identity and migration. Mirjana Rendulic from Croatia has written and performed a piece titled “Death of a Star” and has collaborated with Nigerian poet Chinedum Muotto who has created a spoken word video piece that explores notions of fatherhood. Other participating artists include Csilla Toldy, Iordanis Sidiropoulos, Nasrin Golden, Roxana Manouchehri, Samantha Browne, Tag Beckett, Viviana Fiorentino and Zarah Khan.
Monika Sapielak, the project's curator and Artistic Director of the Centre For Creative Practices, believes that the series represents a major celebration of diversity:
“Despite the lockdown and the adverse conditions in 2020, we wanted to provide migrant and culturally diverse artists in Ireland with an opportunity to collaborate and exhibit during these extraordinary times. This year we have selected 17 artists who we felt displayed excellence in their chosen field. The artists worked in small groups over the course of a few months through zoom. Every year, the New Voices of Ireland Series is a major celebration of the diversity within the artistic community of Ireland, and we are delighted with the high quality of works that have been produced for Against the Odds.”
Now in its eight-year, the New Voices of Ireland Series is an annual project that provides a platform for migrant and culturally diverse artists to present their work to the wider community. The initiative is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and organised by the Centre for Creative Practices (CFCP). Established in 2009, the CFCP is a national support and development organisation for migrant & culturally diverse artists in Ireland.
“Against the Odds” will be screened every Thursday at 7.30 pm until April 1st, on the Centre for Creative Practices youtube channel. All events are free. To view the full schedule visit cfcp.ie/nvoi8
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