The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
Galway Arts Centre is delighted to present a group exhibition featuring the work of seven Master of Arts in Creative Practice students from the School of Design and Creative Arts (SDCA), Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Galway, curated by Soňa Šmédková.
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls is an exhibition drawing inspiration from a poem from Ultima Thule (1880), one of the last collections published by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). The poem can be interpreted as a metaphor for life’s transient nature and death’s enigma. The ocean's eradication of the wanderer's tracks suggests the complete erasure of their existence from the mortal realm. Death, in this context, is depicted as irreversible and absolute. The recurring phrase “the tide rises, the tide falls” amplifies this unsettling sense of finality.
The works of seven Master students Roisin Doherty, Em, Jed Gjerek, Taïm Haimet, Amy Kramer, Emma Jane Mooney and Anastasiia Rachok investigate cultural, environmental, and societal issues of our time. Their research explores the complexities of modern life, where colonialisation, information overload and rapid technological progressions have transformed our experiences. In this fast-paced world, we often find ourselves floating, navigating a sea of data where the constant flow of digital content easily washes away significant experiences. The students' work reflects on how we, as individuals, have become wanderers in our new environments, physical and digital landscapes, where a simple swipe of a finger can erase valuable insights into our disrupted world and selves.
Through a series of photographs, the students explore displacement and the urge to pursue comfort and rejuvenation. The photography medium also serves as a silent witness to the emotions, sensations, and understandings of a particular moment, frozen in time. The colonies of microorganisms inhabiting natural and human forms are examined in meticulously hand-form societies of ceramics questioning elements of truth and fabrication. Fantastical haptic worlds represented in new ways of digital storytelling of animation sets offer curious behind-scenes opportunities to connect with the viewers and the animation narrative. The exhibition also proposes to participate in immersive installations transcending traditional modes of communication in collaboration between humans and machines or joining what one could describe as an Ancient version of the Last Supper between Gods and victims of the violent Apocalypse of Gaza.
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls is a point of pause where the sea is a healing force to wash our murky feet from sleepwalking through a nightmare of our current realities. The texture of the sand becomes a foundation for building a new world where a single self is a small particle and can be only understood as a collective meaningful desire for kindness and love.
Special thanks to the School of Design and Creative Arts, ATU and Galway Arts Centre.
Curator’s Biog
Soňa Šmédková is a Czech independent emerging curator and multidisciplinary artist based in Galway, Ireland. She has been a co-director of Artspace Studios Galway since 2023. Arts Council Ireland and Galway City Council have supported Soňa’s practice since she gained First-class Honours in Master of Arts in Creative Practice at the School of Design and Creative Arts, ATU, Galway in 2021. In the fourth year of her undergrad studies, she was an integral member of the student-led curating team for an exhibition for GMIT contemporary art graduates Not a Degree Show in Connacht Tribune Printworks, funded by Galway City Council. In early 2022 she became a member of the Board of Directors at 126 Artist–Run Gallery and the same year she was a curator of an exhibition A Remix of Change at 126 Gallery as part of the Galway International Arts Festival. Soňa was invited to curate the 2023 MA show Fissure at the Galway Arts Centre which expanded her passion to work with emerging and underrepresented artists. Her work has been exhibited in Ireland, Belgium and Germany.
MA in Creative Practice
Em, Chen MA in Creative Practice
Em, a native of Taiwan, earned her Bachelor's degree in film in 2017. Following graduation, she contributed her skills as a boom operator to three movie projects, immersing herself in the dynamic world of film production. In 2022, Em embarked on a transformative adventure in Ireland, where she further enriched her global perspective. Currently, Em is dedicated to pursuing a Master's degree to deepen her understanding and enhance her creative practice. Specialising in lens-based field, she combines her academic pursuits with her passion for cinematic storytelling. As a devoted film enthusiast, she draws inspiration from movies to craft visually captivating and evocative cinematic photographs, seamlessly blending her love for storytelling with her keen eye for composition.
Statement
Em’s artistic expression is deeply rooted in cinematic elements. She finds herself fully immersed in the present, deciphering messages through the lens of her camera. It's a unique journey of capturing the interplay between her perspective and the world around her. Every image becomes a testament to the emotions, sensations, and experiences of the moment, frozen in time.
Em’s work explores diverse themes, delving into the intricacies of society, culture, environments, and own introspection. Photography serves as her chosen medium, allowing her to communicate in a universal language that transcends the need for spoken words. As someone who may not feel entirely comfortable expressing herself verbally in public, Em relies on the power of images to articulate the complexities of her thoughts and emotions.
https://chen162952.myportfolio.com
Oceanic Solace, 2024, Film photography, 1193 × 1795
Echoes of Silence, 2024, Film photography, 1193 × 1795
Jadranko Gjerek MA in Creative Practice
Jed Gjerek (b. 1974, Croatia) is an art-based researcher whose work delves into the intersections of digital media, artificial intelligence (AI), and traditional art forms. Currently pursuing an MA in Creative Practice at Atlantic Technology University (ATU) in Galway City, Ireland, Jed's artistic journey covers nearly three decades, evolving from classical training in painting, sculpting, and ceramics to the cutting edge of digital art. Jed graduated from ATU (Ireland) in Contemporary Art and from Art School Fisher (Croatia) in Drawing and Painting. He has extended experience in ceramics and is a traditional pottery of northwest Croatia expert awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Croatia. Jed has worked in art education for the last eleven years. Currently, he has a role as an art tutor in digital media and painting with the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board (GRETB).
His recent research focusses on the transition from mimesis to simulacra, exploring how AI-generated content and digital media reshape our perception of reality. By integrating visual programming languages and AI algorithms in art practice, Jed research how dynamic, sensor-driven experiences challenge the idea of an original or authentic source, culminating in the concept of hyperreality, where the boundaries between the real and the simulated dissolve, blurring the lines between life and non-life, human and non-human, and real and virtual.
www.jedgjerek.com
www.instagram.com/jed.gjerek
Object tracking, 2024, process in TouchDesigner
From simulacra to hyperreality, 2024, process of image generation by image-to-image AI
Taïm Haimet MA in Creative Practice
Taïm Haimet is a multidisciplinary artist based in Galway. Born in France of Syrian parents, her work explores the inheritance of a Middle Eastern identity deeply intertwined with a history of colonialism, continuous wars and loss. The question of where we place the notion ‘Sacred’ on what is lost, or on what is left individually or collectively is at the heart of her practice.
She completed an Honours degree in Contemporary Art in 2023 and is currently pursuing an MA in Creative Practice at the ATU Galway. She has won the 126 Gallery artist residency award 2023 and the 2023 RDS Visual Arts Awards.
Children of Darkness
‘This is a battle between the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. Between Humanity and the Law of the Jungle’ Benyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister if Israel, October 17, 2023
‘Gaza has become a graveyard for children’ Antonio Guterres, UN secretary General, November 6, 2023.
As the erasure of Gaza is approaching its year-long continuation, this installation examines the position of the virtual witness, accessing the live streamed images of unimaginable human destruction in real time, uninterrupted, via social media. This radical change in perception, enabled by the technological moment in history we have reached, birthed an unprecedented dystopian experience. The work interrogates the polar opposition between the political language and the documented reality / empathy and an emotional saturation leading to numbness / the evanescent, fleeting nature of virtual images and the concrete materiality of the events on the ground.
The title of the installation is borrowed from the now famous tweet by the Prime minister of Israel at the beginning of the onslaught, and explores it literally, examining the multiple meanings and layers of Darkness, and the dehumanisation of children.
According to the UN, more children have died in Gaza in the first 6 months of war, than in all global conflicts around the world in the past four years combined. They represent the main casualties of the ongoing bombings.
haimettaim@gmail.com www.instagram.com/taimhaimet
Children of Darkness, 2024, detail view: concrete relief
Children of Darkness, 2024, detail view: cloth, concrete
Amy Kramer
MA in Creative Practice
Amy Kramer is a multidisciplinary artist based in Galway. With a background spanning contemporary art and ceramic design, she explores the intersection of nature, science, and artistic expression. Her work has been showcased in exhibitions such as Sculpture in Context at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin and K-Fest in Killorglin, Kerry. Notable achievements include being longlisted for the Visual Artist Awards and shortlisted for two Future Maker awards, both as a student and as an emerging maker. Amy’s art, inspired by the complexities of micro-organisms and natural patterns, invites viewers to contemplate the beauty and interconnectedness of the world around us.
Working primarily in clay, Amy immerses herself in the rich tradition and boundless potential of ceramics. Inspired by the multiples found in nature, particularly in the world of microorganisms, her creations evolve, interact, and respond to their surroundings much like these tiny life forms. Drawing from the countless bacterial cells that inhabit our bodies, she delves into the delicate balance between competition and cooperation, merging scientific observation with imaginative interpretation.
In her studio, Amy meticulously hand-forms each piece, assembling segments into cohesive wholes. While each finished piece resembles a single colony, together they form dynamic landscapes and communities, mirroring the intricate patterns found in the natural world.
From the rhythmic repetitions of cellular division to the intricate designs of fungi, Amy finds profound beauty in nature's design. Her work serves as a visual tapestry, inviting viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of all life forms. Through her art, she aims to ignite curiosity and intrigue, weaving together elements of reality and fiction to provoke thought and wonder.
amykramervisualartist@gmail.com www.instagram.com/amykramerartist
Multiplicity, 2024, Porcelain, 180 mm x 110 mm Ø.
Multiplicity, 2024, Porcelain, 40 mm x 200 mm Ø The
Róisín Doherty
MA in Creative Practice
Róisín Doherty is a visual artist based in Galway, originally from Cruit Island in Northwest Donegal. She holds an honours degree in Contemporary Art from ATU Galway, which she graduated from in 2019. She has widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, being the only Irish Artist selected during COP26 to showcase her work in Transmission Gallery Glasgow. She is a recipient of the Youth Arts Explorer grant from the National Youth council of Ireland in 2023, working with young people to combine local environmental knowledge with art and therapy.
Roisin has a multidisciplinary approach to her practice combining drawing, painting, sound and photography along with found objects in her installations. Beach combing, sound recording and walking are essential to her work. She seeks to bring traditional drawing methods out of the norm by incorporating 3D found objects with the pieces. She is interested in the connection and disconnection between people and nature. Particularly in current times in contrast with Island and rural life before the 1970’s. Several factors contributed to this vast change, such as lack of government investment, emigration, end of traditional farming and fishing methods. Through her work she is delving into the loss of natural life that coincides with the end of traditional Island living. She immerses herself into the machair habitat on the Island, home to many species that are merely hanging on by thread. One significant species is the Curlew (Crotach), which is on the red list that was once abundant throughout Ireland, their haunting call may one day fall silent. Roisin’s intricate and detailed work reflects the deep connection our ancestors once had with the natural environment.
https://roisindohertyartist.bigcartel.com/about-the-artist www.instagram.com/roisindohertyartist
Bloodline, 2024, Graphite, watercolour, pencil, Ink and pen on Fabriano Paper, 150cm x 90cm
Vertebrae, 2024, Bone, 40cm x 20cm
Anastasia Rachok MA in
Creative Practice
Anastasia Rachok is a digital photographer and mixed-media artist based in Galway, Ireland. She combines photography with digital manipulation, collage, and other media. Originally from Ukraine. Her move to Ireland, driven by the need to escape the war, has profoundly influenced her work and personal growth.
Her experience as a photographer and art & craft teacher in Ukraine has refined her technical skills. In Ireland, her education includes an Art, Craft, Design course at the GRETB Training Centre and a current MA in Creative Practice at Atlantic Technological University (ATU). This blend of past experience and ongoing studies enriches her artistic practice and creative approach.
Anastasia's work reflects a journey of healing, self-discovery, and adaptation to her new environment, in a new country. By blending photography with digital collages and other media, she explores and conveys the complex emotions of displacement and renewal.
"Seaside Encounters" is a series of photographs and collages focusing on how people interact with Ireland’s coastal environment. This project highlights diverse ways individuals connect with nature and find peace—physically, emotionally, creatively, and socially. The beach a cherished childhood memory, now serves as a bridge between her past and present, offering a sense of calm in her new surroundings.
The series shares the coast’s beauty and emphasizes the power of positive actions within a community. Psychological and neuroscientific research shows that witnessing kindness and beauty enhances well-being, boosts positivity, and inspires others to act kindly, motivating individuals to engage in good deeds themselves. Through "Seaside Encounters," Anastasia aims to showcase the beauty of the Irish coast and invite viewers to reflect on their own needs for connection and healing while sharing her personal story of growth, renewal, and finding a place to call home.
www.instagram.com/seasidestoriesphoto?igsh=bDJ2ZHVzcGlydDR5
Sea view, 2024, digital collage, 3388 x 4961 pixels
Deep breath, 2024, photo, 266.91 x 189.3 cm
Emma Jane Mooney
MA in Creative Practice
Emma Jane is an animation background designer and mixed media artist. She graduated Galway Mayo Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Game Design and Animation in 2021. Emma Jane works in animation as it allows her to tell stories that will resonate and connect with the viewers. She uses textiles and colour to create 3-dimensional animation backgrounds that can be used in stop motion animation.
Emma Jane creates small scale sets that depict fantastical textured worlds that can be used in stop motion animations. Emma Jane uses different textures and techniques, such as, felt, knitting, embroidery, and dyeing of fabrics to create environments that have a sense of haptic texture to connect to the viewers and add to the narrative of the story behind the animation. She also writes stories that are used to inspire the environment, colour, and texture of the sets.
studioemmajane.wordpress.com www.instagram.com/studioemmajane
Bog Scene, 2024, mixed media.
Red Bog, 2024, Sublimation dyeing and embroidery.
