Launch
6pm 20 July
Running
21 July-4 August
Closing Event
3 August 6:30pm
The Darkroom
32 Brunswick Street, Dublin
D07 TWX3
Opening Hours
Mon-Wed 10:30am-5:30pm
Free
A Joining of Self
Suella Holland
A Joining of Self is a site-specific portrait of fragmented childhood recollections of abuse, incorporating memories of different fabrics, dissociative experiences and phrases of manipulation that were used to threaten and enforce secrecy, ultimately breaking a silence that has been kept for forty years. Challenging herself by visiting a house that is a clone of her childhood home, Suella Holland faces her own emotional turmoil and translates these feelings and memories into a visual language which enables her to express a past that she is unable to articulate in words.
Shrouded in secrecy and made to fear that no one will believe them, children keep silent about abuse. Words that were used to manipulate them echo through their minds, making most of them too afraid to speak out.
Holland has recreated scenes from fragmented memories and utilised photography and stitching as a means of expression. Photographed on film with the abuser’s twin lens reflex camera she has converted the male gaze to that of the female child’s and taken back control of the past. A reclamation of power, A Joining of Self comes face to face with that past and strives to choose courage over fear and acceptance over criticism. This inner union is powerful as its connection brings unity and balance to both the conscious and subconscious selves.
Photographic artist Suella Holland has exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions and has worked on collaborative projects with artists and writers. She is a Board Member of The Darkroom, a member of Visual Artists Ireland and has received bursaries from Meath and Cavan County Councils. Her work is in the collections of both Councils, the Kells Type Trail Archive and in private collections worldwide. She works in publishing and has just completed an MFA in Photography at Ulster University. She has been nominated for a PhotoIreland RADAR Award and for the Star Photobook Dummy Award.