Brigid Mulligan – Freebird’s M.C.C Project
At Queen Street studios from 6th June to 11th July 2024, Brigid Mulligan will present her work that explores the experience of loss in conjunction with the ‘Freebird’s MCC Project’.
The ‘Freebirds M.C.C. Project’ is a collaboration between the Freebird’s Motorcycle Club and artist Brigid Mulligan. The club members co-created a body of work based on shared histories and the communal effects of loss. Over the last twenty years, the club has lost three members due to road traffic accidents; this includes Mulligan’s brother Séan.
06 Jun 2024
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11 Jul 2024
2nd Floor, The Arches Centre, 11-13 Bloomfield Ave, Belfast, BT5 5AA
‘Freebirds M.C.C. Project’ will bring a motorcycle rally exhibition to the Gallery combining film, artwork, and motorcycles. A motorcycle rally themed event, held on Saturday 8th June, will feature live music from Lazarus Brother playing heavy metal classics, followed by a screening of the short film co-created with Bruno Pierucci ‘Freebirds’, inviting the audience to connect in creatively considering loss. The exhibition includes artworks made from recycled motorbike parts that explore alternative shrines, cyanotype print, film, and photography, alongside ceramic wreaths by artist Martha Williamson, co-designed for the late club members graves.
Artist Statement
Brigid Mulligan is a visual artist from county Longford. She studied Sculpture at ATU Galway receiving a BA Hons degree in 2009 and continued her education there graduating from the Master’s in creative Practice in 2018. Her work examines alternative shrines and questions the role creativity can play in processing grief and loss. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including a solo exhibition ‘A portrait of a life through belonging’, in Artlink, Fort Dunree Donegal & group shows ‘It comes in waves’, in the Custom House Ennistimon Co. Clare, ‘Dwell’, An Táin, art centre, Dundalk, ‘Anticipated Nostalgia’, Golden Thread Gallery Belfast & ‘LINES FICTION’, Galerie Körnerpark, Berlin.
Awards include Mobility Award, Culture Moves Europe 2024, Arts Participation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland 2023, Cavan Studio Award, Townhall Theatre & Cavan County Council 2023, Artist Support Scheme, Galway County Council 2023/2021, the Seed Grant, the Irish Hospice Foundation 22/23. The Project Realisation Award and R&D Artist in the Community award with mentoring, 2021 & Pilot Mentoring award, 2022 from Create IRE & the Arts Council.
‘The Freebirds M.C.C Project’ has toured nationwide to Backstage Theatre Longford, an Taibhdhearc theatre in Galway City, Cornmill Theatre, Leitrim and Pallas Projects & Studios, Dublin.