Dearbhail McNulty | Artist Portfolio 2024

PORTFOLIO

DEARBHAIL MCNULTY

VISUAL ARTIST

ABOUT

DEARBHAILMCNULTY

Dearbhail McNulty's artistic journey explores the concept of safe spaces by utilising light as a medium of communication, fostering a nostalgic ambience that mirrors the sense of safety often associated with the confines of one ' s home.

McNulty's creative process lies in capturing the 'golden hour,' be it bathed in natural sunlight or artificial luminance. This deliberate choice is integral to her exploration of creating moments of repose within the home. Employing a blend of digital and film photography, she captures the interplay of light within the stillness of domestic settings.

‘IN RESPONSE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH’

PERFORMANCEPIECE

BelfastInternationalFestivalOfPerformanceArt

UlsterUniversity

BIFPA 2024

As a feminist and activist, Dearbhail McNulty was deeply affected by the Department of Health’s decision to cease funding for Nexus and Women’s Aid; the only charities in Northern Ireland supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. This outrage motivated her performance piece "The Department Of Health Has Failed Us" as part Belfast’s International Festival of Performance Arts (BIFPA) in March 2024. In a glass box space, McNulty painstakingly wrote all of Northern Ireland’s domestic abuse and sexual assault statistics onto huge, public facing windows.

The concluding action, saw her writing "the department of health has failed us " with red paint on white linen. Reflecting not only today's misogynist purity culture, but also the historical oppression of Irish women in the Magdalene Laundries. The red paint referencing danger and the association of red blood from not only the physical abuse, but also the mental and emotional injuries of domestic abuse.

Photoonleftofperformance‘InResponseToTheDepartmentOfHealth’BIFPA2024,courtesyofAidanO'Neill

RESILENCE 2023

2023

‘RESILENCE’

LENSBASED

In this project, Dearbhail McNulty investigates and observes moments of changing light, notably Golden Hour, the inherent liminal space, uncovering fragments and offering a transformational space of enquiry.

This series of works highlights the stillness that light can give, reclaiming a space in the form of 're-slience'.

Reclaiming your own silence with light, within these spaces.

Photoonleft:DearbhailMcNulty‘ReSilence’2023

Left:Perspexphotographypiece1000x700mm,Above:PhotographyPiece

2024

‘SAFE PLACE TO REST YOUR HEAD’

INSTALLATION

DegreeShowExhibition

UlsterUniversity

ImageonLeft:Photographypiecefromseries

Dearbhail McNulty's artistic journey explores the concept of safe spaces by utilising light as a medium of communication, fostering a nostalgic ambience that mirrors the sense of safety often associated with the confines of one ' s home.

McNulty's creative process lies in capturing the 'golden hour,' be it bathed in natural sunlight or artificial luminance. This deliberate choice is integral to her exploration of creating moments of repose within the home. Employing a blend of digital and film photography, she captures the interplay of light within the stillness of domestic settings.