Launch: Take Hold

Take Hold is a group exhibition curated by Rachel Botha featuring artists Husk Bennett, Chloe Brenan, Aifric Prior Beliere, Laura Fitzgerald, Cecelia Graham, Marielle MacLeman, Samir Mahmood, William McKeown and Michaela Razafima Nash. The project interprets ‘hope as a practice’ as a tool in the face of the climate crisis, capitalism, and systems devoid of care. The work in Take Hold ranges from painting, textile, sound, text, video, sculpture, photography and installation, and aims to reanimate hope and its relevance in our lives, from no singular position or viewpoint.

“hope as a practice, rather than a feeling” is a phrase borrowed from the environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism Joanna Macy. During these times of continued and intensified war, genocide, disinformation, hatred, facism, racism and fear, hope can be a committed form of collective resistance, rather than an ephemeral sentiment, for envisioning a better future. Hope can highlight the necessity of anger in response to injustice, advocating for a motivation that can turn despair into action.

The exhibition shares its title and concept with a publication that invited contributors to reflect on our conditions as humans and artists, to share a vulnerability that explores interconnectedness. This exhibition includes some of the contributors from the publication, encouraging them to revisit the concept from different perspectives such as the social, ecological, personal and political. They are joined by additional invited artists, providing further approaches and contexts.

Take Hold is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland,

Derry City & Strabane District Council and the Visual Arts Bursary, Arts Council Ireland and includes a selection of works from the Arts Council Ireland Collection.