Array Collective playfully use performance, protest, photography, print, installation and video. They work with a range of creative individuals and organisations to merge artistic expression, participate in direct action and instigate public interventions across urban and online environments.
ARTIST BIO
Array Collective are a group of eleven artists based in Belfast who create collaborative actions in response to socio-political issues affecting Northern Ireland. Situated within a geo-political position that holds complex histories, they employ craic and collaboration as a means of resistance. They fuse seriousness with humour, and address contemporary issues with ancient Irish folk imagery. Recent projects include public artworks in support of the decriminalisation of abortion, challenging legislative discrimination of the queer community in Northern Ireland, participation in the group exhibition Jerwood Collaborate! in London in late 2019 and most recently their installation won the Turner Prize 2021 in the Herbert Coventry Museum. Their immersive installation An Dún is currently on show in IMMA as part of Self-Determination: A Global Perspective. Array Collective comprises of: Sighle Bhreatnach-Cashell, Sinéad Bhreatnach-Cashell, Jane Butler, Alessia Cargnelli, Emma Campbell, Mitch Conlon, Clodagh Lavelle, Grace McMurray, Stephen Millar, Laura O'Connor and Thomas Wells.
Beer Mats, from The Druthaibs Ball, Array Collective, Turner Prize, The Herbert Coventry Museum, 2021.
An installation of shot of The Druthaibs Ball, Array Collective, Turner Prize, The Herbert Coventry Museum, 2021.
Working as constituents or allies of the communities they protest with and make art about, Array Collective aims to create a new mythology for the growing number of people who do not prescribe to embedded sectarian dichotomies.
Installation shot of An Dún at IMMA Dublin [image credit Ros Kavanagh] 2024
The collective have been working together more actively since 2016 motivated by the continuing social political unrest. Array’s non-hierarchical informality is a self-valued strength and builds on their current modes of intervention.
Beer Mats, from The Druthaibs Ball, Array Collective, Turner Prize, The Herbert Coventry Museum, 2021.
Install shot of As Others See Us part of Jerwood Collaborate!, Array Collective, Jerwood Arts, London, 2019.
Detail shot of The Druthaibs Ball, Array Collective, Turner Prize, The Herbert Coventry Museum, 2021.
