Unseen by my Open Eyes

Unseen by my Open Eyes is a solo exhibition by Kevin Gaffney featuring four films that explore the construction, projection and manipulation of identity.

A Numbness in the Mouth is a 17 minute vision of a self- sustaining militarised Ireland where food production and consumption is kept in balance. Created with a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship and filmed on location in a nineteenth century water-powered flour mill in Dublin, A Numbness in the Mouth explores our relationship to food, its production and consumption in a series of staged scenes, archival footage, monologues and analogies.

In The Mirror is Dark and Inky, daily life in Iran is interrupted by a whale living in a bathtub. Our Stranded Friends in Distant Lands reflects on geographic, political and emotional separations in South Korea. Everything Disappears explores selfhood, relationships and military conscription in Taiwan. Each film is shot in the prevalent or native tongue of the country in which the film was shot, with participants from Iran, Taiwan and South Korea performing the roles.

Accompanying the exhibition is the first monograph of the artist's work, Unseen by my Open Eyes, published by Black Dog Publishing in London. The four films exhibited are presented through a series of richly illustrated sections and are contextualised in an essay by critic Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith. Also featured are the films’ English scripts, with an appendix compiling the scripts in Persian, Korean, Mandarin and Irish.

Exhibition opening and book launch: Friday 2nd December, 7-9pm.

A free bus will run between Dublin and Portadown on 2nd December. To book your place contact lisa@millenniumcourt.org

Artist talk: Wednesday 18th January, 2-3pm.

Millennium Court Arts Centre, William Street, Portadown, BT62 3NX.

Gallery opening Hours: Mon - Sat 10.00am - 5.00pm & by appointment.