Rebecca O’Flagherty

Born: 31.01.2000, currently based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Education: First Class Honours in BA HONS Photography and Video at Ulster University

Exhibitions: Belfast Exposed, ‘Imprint’ , Group Exhibition , Belfast, Feb 2022. R – Space “Materials, Messages and meanings #10 Borders, Boundaries and Bridges” Group Exhibition, Lisburn, Feb - March 2022. Belfast School of Art Degree show, ‘A Moment for Holding’ BA Photography with Video Group Exhibition, Belfast, June 2022. The Second Fiddle, BSoA in Residency ‘Clash of Contiguilty’ Solo Exhibition, Belfast, Feb/March 2022.

Project Title: Song is Reality

This project involves a series of performative gestures to camera that explore the impact of the Northern Irish geographical and political landscape upon my body. I cycled the boundaries of my hometown, along the outskirts of the rural landscape, repeatedly stopping at farm gates to perform a ritualized action that responded to the specifics of each new site. The preparation and journey through the landscape are integral parts of the performances.

The five-bar gate is a structural barrier embedded in the landscape which I use conceptually to represent certain divisive traditions and attitudes in Northern Ireland that I find myself struggling against. Each performance involves durational actions that test the fragility and yet resilience of my body. Repeated iterations of the actions have created diversity in the shapes and forms produced whilst transitioning from one movement to another – constantly thinking of where to place my hand or foot and sensing how much pressure is necessary and recognizing the failure to remain connected.

The edited documentation video is evidence of performance sequences and shows the silent moments of failure and resilience that occurred within multiple sites, capturing how my body has altered slightly with every attempt to remain connected with the structure. My body gets more fragile as the performance continues and this subtle act of endurance also involves pauses of recovery.

The text pieces mirror the process of creating the series of actions to camera, capturing some of my embodied experiences, reacting to the pain and awkwardness of this unconventional behaviour in a landscape dominated by tradition and traces of masculine labour.

I treat the documentation as non-precious records that remain in a malleable state of adjustment. This process of editing and erasure reflects the ongoing questions I have about our political structures of government in which the voices of youth are underrepresented. In the held moments where my body tries to maintain an impossible position, I am attempting to resist the mental and physical barriers of everyday life within post-conflict Northern Ireland.

Website Instagram