S H E L A G H H O N A N
Passage Of Sound
Large outdoor video and sound installation
Fleadh Cheoil Na hEiréann 2017
helagh Honan's work utilizes a wide range of techniques and approaches to create video and photography installations that push the boundaries of traditional cinematic forms. These installations often take the form of large outdoor site-specific projections,and also incorporate single and multi-channel installations where video screens are projected, suspended, multiplied, miniaturized, or otherwise manipulated.
One of the distinctive features of her practice was the use of large-scale outdoor projections. She completed several commissioned projects that covered large town buildings, bridges, and architectural locations. These projects allowed her to create large scale immersive and experiential artworks that engaged the viewer on a sensory and emotional level.
She also curated many exhibitions in unused sites and townhouses, managing and collaborating with other artists.
Overall, her art practice is centered on using experimental film narratives to explore themes of society, culture, and the human experience, and to create immersive and thought-provoking experiences that inspire and challenge the viewer. She sees video as a medium that is receptive, flexible, and far-reaching, where she can create work that encourages viewers to engage with the world around them in new and meaningful ways.
I am intrigued by the capacity of the landscape to reflect our own world, our values, our histories, our culture and our experiences. The human condition, has always been an undercurrent in my work and this is reflected in my most recent works, where solitude is expressed through the treatment of the landscape in film and sound. These works and their associated narratives both real and imagined, are shaped from the geographies and the fabric of the place itself, touching on the stories, and the histories that are embedded within.
These short and often experimental film works emerge as a response to place. They are a combination of research and time spent on location where the initial ideas are developed crafted and designed to confront the viewer in the simplest of ways by engaging an emotional response in relation to the landscape.
Landscape is a vehicle that allows me to express ideas thoughts and experiences that are abstract and difficult to define. In this work ‘Passage of Sound’ the landscape is used as a metaphor for the artist going to the edge in search of his craft.This film was commissioned as a large outdoor site specific installation that was projected as a live event over a 150ft span across the river Fergus in Ennis. The inception from the initial film and sound concept to the mapped projection as nightly live event for the duration of Fleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann (Irelands largest traditional musical festival) was a huge event that attracted huge number of people.
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