Mary Keane with Tomasz Madajczak and Chloe Pisco
16 September to 12 October

The way we communicate above and beyond language continues to be an area of investigation for Mary Keane. As a film artist with particular interest in dance film she expresses her work through the moving image and the body.

Chloe as a dancer through the moving body and Tomasz as a visual artist, through the still image/live choreography. All art mediums though their non verbal nature have the power to emote and speak to us in a deep, abstract way. The Irish language, and our relationship to it, is a key area of research, encompassing many filmic modes from documentary to dance film. Mary's Father obtained a scholarship to an all Irish boarding school when he was 13. she as an 11 year old spent 3 months away from home in the Chorca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht in Co. Kerry, and more recently spent 11 years living in the Ring Gaeltacht on Helvic Pennisula in Co. Waterford.

Questions around “Ar dtéanga” are bandied about secula seculorem, but for the most part we don’t seem to advance beyond the “cúpla focal”. Equally has the abrupt disrupt of our association with it caused “psychological implications” as historian Joe Lee queried. Where does this all sit on the collective Irish body? Chloe is a polyglot, she didn’t learn Gaeilge, having been exempt from it at the age of 12 when she came to Ireland. Something she recalls she was never happy with, having wanted to learn it in school. Tomasz Madajczak is a multimedia visual artist originally from Poland with Polish as his native tongue. Being involved in the Art Nomads; group, Tomasz is hyper aware of the different aspects of multiculturalism and the influence of multilingualism in communication. The three come together with these shared associations and disassociations. To unearth and to create.

Our starting point post initial discussions and sharing of pertinent dance films of mine on this theme such as “Together” and “Does the Body Ever Lie” will be choreographic responses from Chloe to photographic works created and selected by Tomasz. The works will explore non verbal research for a meeting point in a deep artistic process. Part of the time of our collaboration will be dedicated to active engagement in sharing our practice. Both Chloe and Mary will lead workshops and Tomasz will share his experiences with still image, the understanding of the nature of light in creation of photographic image and live choreography as an active element in arranging a photographic image. Mary will record some of Chloe’s movement material and breath during their work which will be used as research for a future dance film exploring non verbal communication and the intersection of language.

WCAC acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council and Cork County Council in making these residencies possible