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Death, my Bride




For our final festival, we chose the theme of Death, my Bride. This phrase comes from the lyrics of Tim Buckley's Song to the Siren (also hauntingly covered by This Mortal Coil) where he asks “Should I lie with death, my bride?”. This phrase, seemed pertinent as the overall mood of the song and of our ending of Soul Noir that sees the potential of death as mysterious and beautiful and not something to be afraid of. Our main venue, The Irish Georgian Societies Knight of Glin room is the first purpose built gallery in Europe and this venue was chosen to continue our ethos of working within spaces of historic significance, uniting legacies of Gothic culture in Dublin with that of its very structure. The theme of the festival is of death, however is not a sad one. Death can mean many things, the end of a specific time, a rebirth, a new beginning. The chosen final programme for Soul Noir will platform works and performance that reflect this theme in multifarious, genuine, terrible and beautiful ways.

Soul Noir would like to sincerely thank Dublin City Council Arts Office for their support and RTÉ Supporting the Arts for their support also.

Our award winners were;
Best in Show - Ferdinando Adiletta
Best Emerging Artist - Jessica Checkley
Dark Heart Award - Conor Connolly
Audience Favourite Award- Gwen Stevenson

Location: Irish Georgian Societies City Assembly House, 58 South William Street Dublin 2

Please find a link to the 2024 catalogue here 








Official documentation by Chad Alexander. 


The 2024 programme artists are listed below:


Ailbhe McDonagh




Swan Song (2024)
Live cello performance 6.30 - 7.30pm November 1st.


Ailbhe's performance at this year's festival will celebrate the last Soul Noir Festival by creating a performance based around the idea of the Swan Song. The cello is famous for a piece by French composer Saint-Saens called 'The Swan'. Villa Lobos also composed a piece for the cello called 'The Song of the Black Swan'. Using both of these pieces as material at the opening, Ailbhe will create an improvised performance of around 40 minutes signifying the ending of the final Soul Noir festival.


Artist Bio:
Ailbhe McDonagh has earned international recognition as both a soloist and chamber musician. According to Fanfare Magazine, “she plays with flawless technique, faultless intonation, and a strong yet meltingly sweet tone”.  She has released 4 recordings of her classical music on the cello and also numerous other recordings of her own compositions. Ailbhe performs in many other styles alongside her classical performances. She has performed at Soul Noir previously and has collaborated with artists Fergus Byrne and Pauline Cummins.


Follow the artist at her website, Facebook and Instagram



Breda Lynch




AIDS is not over (2016 - 2021)
Cyanotype print/Digital print
Kindly on loan from the IMMA Collection: Purchase, 2021.

Artist Bio:
An artist born in Kilkenny and living in Limerick City, is a visual artist working in a variety of media, including drawing, photography, print and digital media, video and installation. She engages with dialogues and discourses on - queer feminisms, the western mystery tradition and occulture, appropriation and the economy of the image.

Lynch has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad. International exhibitions include curated group exhibitions in the UK, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, China, USA and Australia.

Solo exhibitions in Ireland include:

’If Your Not Scared The Atomic Bomb Is Not Interesting’, Source Arts Centre, Thurles (2024). ‘Blue Dyke’ Ormston House 2020-21, ’Witch and Lezzie’, Ashford Gallery RHA (2017) Dublin, ‘Fragments of a Lost Civilisation’, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar (2016), ’The Pit and Other Stories’ , at Siamsa Tire Gallery, Tralee (2014), ’Thursday’s Clinic’ , 126 Gallery, Galway (2013), ‘Strangelove’, Black Mariah, Triskel, Cork (2010),’Song to the Siren’, Galway Arts Centre (2009), ‘Place of the Crows’ and ‘Fleurs Fatales’, Context Gallery Derry (2007) and ‘Dark Brides and Silent Twins’ Limerick City Gallery of Art (2006).

Her work is represented in a number of public and private collections including IMMA, The Arts Council of Ireland, OPW – Office of Public Works, Meta Open Arts Dublin, The Women’s Library Glasgow, NUIG Collection – Galway, Luciano Benetton Italy, Trinity College Art Collection, National Library of Ireland, Library Project Dublin, Limerick City Gallery Collection, University of Limerick Collection, Hunt Museum Limerick.

In 2024 Lynch presented her work ‘Cake Bomb’, at the 24th Sydney Biennale Australia, titled ‘Ten Thousand Suns’. This was in partnership with IMMA and Culture Ireland.


Follow the artist at her website and X.



Conor Connolly




When We Meet Again In Hell (2024)
oil on canvas board


The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let
go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away.
But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So
the way he sees it, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're
holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away.
-Jacob's Ladder, Director Adrian Lyne (1990)


Artist Bio:
I'm a self-taught artist, based in Dublin, with professional
experience in Graphic Design and Publishing. My academic background
includes Literature, Classics, and Psychology. Aside from artistic and
academic pursuits, I have also been active in the Dublin dark
alternative music scene, as DJ and club promoter/organiser, since the
90s. I draw inspiration from books, music, movies, mythology, the
weirder aspects of the natural world, other artists, or whichever of a
hundred random things resonates at any given moment.

Follow the artist at his Instagram and Facebook.


Daire Lynch





Sleep Sweet (2024)
oil on canvas


It was late August. We had spent the previous day on horseback going up Mount Vesuvius followed by a sweltering walk around Pompeii.  Decisions were made - we needed something slower paced  ,somewhere where the air didn't burn your lungs with the heat. We decided on  Cimitero Delle Fontanelle. To perambulate here was a joy. Calm. Cool. Nothing morbid yet a stark reminder of mortality. I met these three fellows as a I turned a corner. The coins that lay near are gifts and offerings. The Coin on top of his skull I gifted. Sleep sweet my friends.


Artist Bio:
Dáíre Lynch is a representational figurative artist born in Dublin, Ireland though now resides in West Cork. .He trained as a sound engineer before focusing his primary creative output in oil painting.
With a boundless reverence for life and the human form, he has birthed a world where the nuances of humanity are brought to the forefront and propose an emotive journey to the viewer. When not painting or creating, he can be found in the wilds, be it woods, lakes, or the powerful Atlantic Ocean.  Ever drawn to the savage beauty of the Atlantic waters, West Cork is where he found softened sand and vigourous salted winds to allow his roots to burrow and anchor him in these tumultous times.
The seascapes are an intrinsic part of his works, a calming playground, feeding both memory and mindfulness.

Follow the artist at his Website, Instagram and Big Cartel.


Dave Lordan




Dave Lordan will read from his memoir, The Dead Friends. Lordan will also read his celebrated poem Cureheads.
Live reading 7 - 7.20pm October 31st.

Five teenagers gather at a party in a bedsit in Dunmanway, West Cork during mushroom season in 1993 – a Curehead, a couple of ravers, a punk and a mod. Only the Curehead – me, Dave Lordan – is left on this Earth in 2018.


Artist Bio:
Dave Lordan is an Irish poet influenced by oral and countercultural traditions including post-punk, Irish rebel music, and the beats.

Find more information about the artist at Literature Ireland.


Dolorosa de la Cruz





Epicentre of Persistence (2024)
Goauche on black paper



Using anagrams and rituals as pathways to navigate
the unknown via the experience of the ecstatic,engenendered from the micro
big bang impact of pigment against paper.
Like fire flies it flickers upon heightened receptors, pareidolia in flux,
confunding our senses.
White on black- an analogue photo-chemical process with the lamp of
Moonlight as fixative.

The night that began in your eyes-
in my soul it was a long night's end:
Here and now we keeep company
on the road of our return.


-Mahmoud Darwish


Artist Bio:
Dolorosa de la Cruz is a visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland and a curator
of the Cabinet of the Solar PLexus Blog. Her art is an ongoing enquiry into
spiritual, magical and esoteric matters through the female sensibility.
Dolorosa work has been exhibited in Dublin, Belfast, London, New York, Los Angeles,
Portland, Cleaveland, Brussels, Poland and Chile. It has also been published in several occult and art journals and books.
in addition to her work as an artist, Dolorosa is active in art education and co-curates with Gallery X.

Follow the artist on her Instagram.



Ellen Rogers Kingston



Untitled (‘In Loving Memory’) 1901
Watercolour on Paper

In

loving Memory

of [the artist]

Ellen Rogers Kingston

Elder Daughter of

Richard Paul Kingston

Fortfield House Rathmines

Entered into Rest 30 May 1929.


Artist Bio:
These works (there are two works in a private collection)  were purchased and restored in 2023. Through research, many details of this obscure artist were uncovered which piece together a story of the artist’s life told through surviving civil, church and burial records. While these records present a drawing of facts – where she was born, where she resided, where she died and where she was buried – none of these records reference her work as an artist, amateur or otherwise. Despite this, 100 years later these works survive her, and live on to sustain how she is and will be remembered with a legacy as an artist who was skilled and admired in her field.

Ellen Rogers Kingston was born 2nd June 1880 at 12 Bloomfield Avenue, Portobello to Richard and Mary Lane Kingston, namesake of her paternal grandmother, Ellen Kingston of Bandon (1816 - 1900). At the time of the second painting, the 1901 census notes Kingston, now aged 20, as a scholar, a term defined in census guidelines as a child or young person attending school or receiving regular instruction at home. By 1911, Kingston, now 29, was a Bookkeeper. At the time of her death in 1929, Kingston’s death certificate records her as a spinster of with a ‘Rank, Profession, or Occupation’, of Independent Means.

The above epitaph transposes the words described and inscribed on Kingston’s gravestone, with the posthumous addition of ‘the artist’, as a reflection of how she [the artist] will continue to be remembered. 125 years later, both works now hang in a residence at the top of the street in Portobello, Dublin where the artist was born.


Eriko Uehara



Salome (2024)
Live dance performance 6.15 - 6.50pm October 31st.

The tale of Salome has always been the object of fascination, particularly among artists and their audiences. Oscar Wilde’s stage adaptation, originally published in French, was described as being “full of elaborate and ornate verses. The colours, the stars, the birds, the rare gems…it has almost all the quality of poem, the prose is as musical and fluid as verses, full of images and metaphors.”

German composer Richard Strauss, inspired by Wilde’s “Salome”, brought this tale to the next level in his 1905 opera. The music deftly reflects and elevates Salome’s burning desire for the prophet Yokanaan, and the sordid elements of the tale; her seductive dance for King Herod, and the reward of Yokanaan’s head on a silver platter. The final scene of Salome’s monologue/aria starts with “the most sickening chord in all opera”, “epoch-making dissonance with which takes Salome…to the depth of degradation, and the quintessence of decadence; here is ecstasy falling in upon itself, crumbling into the abyss.” (Craig Ayrey)

In this performance, Uehara performs the final scene from the Opera “Salome,” creating her own interpretation of Salome’s love and desire by incorporating elements of Japanese culture and aesthetics.

“I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan! There was a bitter bitter taste on thy red lips. Was it the taste of blood? Nay! This is the taste of love…”

Artist Bio:
Eriko Uehara is a singer/dancer/actor from Okinawa, Japan. She studied classical singing from early childhood and later at the University of the Ryukyus. She then studied drama, dance and singing at the renowned Shiki Theatre acting institute in Tokyo. She also studied Traditional Ryukyuan (Okinawan) dance under Japanese national treasure Fusako Shida. Her versatile style of dance and singing are deep rooted to her indigenous culture.Eriko has been performing as a singer, dancer, actor and musical director since moving to Ireland. She has recently begun to collaborate with other multimedia artists to expand her experience and expertise as a performer. She received a Music Bursary Award for her vocal soundscape project in 2023 from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Follow the artist at her Instagram


Ferdinando Adiletta




Chaos, Night and Darkness (2024)
oil on canvas 


Chaos, Night and Darkness is an allegory based on the myth where Chaos gives birth to their two daughters, Night and Darkness.

Artist Bio:
I am a visual artist with a focus on traditional and digital painting. I grew up among nature, art and music, getting inspiration from what physically surrounds me. I am fascinated by the artistic currents of Surrealism and Impressionism as well as by Occultism and Esotericism. The symbolism of these disciplines with the seduction that arises from blending attributes of beauty and macabre convey to my work elements of mysticism and darkness. Studying as an illustrator and working with digital painting as a Concept Artist and Art Director for the animation industry, taught me about the importance of storytelling, a way to explore allegoric narratives deeply. I see Art as a subversive tool that can unwrap us from the material world of the ego-driven consciousness, a ritual to celebrate the energies of Life.

Follow the artist at his website. 


Gubu Dolls




The Doc's Reliquary (2016)
plaster, wood, bone, found objects and felt


I'm making a novel out of physical objects.(The Gubudolls shrine at Gallery X ) in the story. The doc (whose death mask features prominently in the selected piece for Soul Noir) has developed a telepathic internet which allows the Gubu Doll's to escape death and live immortally in the internet. But at what price?

Artist Bio:
GUBU MAN, anonymous artist, was a writer and playwright for 20 years, until a rare and severe L.E.D light sensitivity struck him at the age of 39, preventing him from using all types of screens, computers and smartphones. Exiled from the digital world and isolated in his own space, everything from walking down the streets of Dublin facing lights from cars and stores, to keeping in touch with friends, became a daily struggle. The worst blow of them all was the inability to write, but creation found its way. “I became driven by a tactile need to create with my hands. While The Gubu Saga is not specifically about my story, I did, as an actor would, pour my own experience into the object I was making, while in character.”

Follow the artist at his website , Instagram or visit his permanent installation at GalleryX.


Gwen Stevenson




Memorial/UnMemorial (2024)
Film (16:9) with Sound

Stevenson’s  film "Memorial/UnMemorial" marks the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement through a year-long durational performance. From February 14, 2023, to February 14, 2024, Stevenson crossed the UK/Ireland Border daily, reciting the names and ages of those killed during the Troubles on their anniversaries.

The work questions the necessity of collective memorials, reflecting on Northern Ireland's complex legacy. The film, featuring daily footage and a poignant soundtrack, invites viewers to engage at their own pace, fostering deep reflection on remembrance and reconciliation.


Artist Bio:
Gwen Stevenson is a visual and performance artist based in Northern Ireland. Her work explores the impermanence and fragility of life, focusing on themes of place, memory, and identity, particularly as they relate to the legacy of the Northern Ireland conflict and the challenges posed by the climate emergency. Stevenson's multidisciplinary practice spans site-specific installations, art and technology, durational performances, and participatory art. Her educational background combines artistic and technological expertise, including a BA (First Class Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Ulster and advanced degrees in engineering and organizational psychology from Trinity College Dublin and the University of London, Birkbeck. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally, with notable solo exhibitions such as "Memorial/UnMemorial" at Belfast Exposed Photography Gallery in 2024 and "Infinite Mass" at Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown. Stevenson also represented Ireland at Estudio Abierto, Buenos Aires, South America's premier contemporary arts festival.

Her projects often involve significant community engagement, collaborating with diverse partners including local councils, public health initiatives, and various publicly funded organizations and charities across Northern Ireland. This socially engaged approach encompasses public health, arts in health, regeneration, peace-building, arts and disability, youth arts, community arts, arts for older people, and intercultural arts initiatives. Consequently, her work includes public art pieces, events, exhibitions, site-specific installations, short films, and publications. Stevenson has received numerous accolades, including the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Individual Digital Evolution Award, Future Screens Narrative Futures Award, ACNI Support for the Individual Artist, and the Invest NI Innovation Award. Her works are held in public collections such as the National Museum NI and Health & Social Care Trusts. In addition to her solo work, Stevenson is an active member of artist collectives and creative arts groups like Shore Collective and Think Ecos, underscoring her commitment to collaborative and socially engaged art practices. Her ongoing projects delve into the intersection of technology and art, exploring how contemporary society grapples with environmental issues, public memory, and identity amidst ecological change.

Follow the artist at her website, Linkedin, Facebook,  Instagram and Youtube.


Jessica Checkley



Levithan (2024)
bronze and marble

In this piece Jessica explores the description of ‘The Leviathan’ as a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. The Leviathan is often an embodiment of chaos and threatening to eat the damned after their life.

Artist Bio:
Jessica’s sculpture is intricate and detailed. The context of her work is inspired by film, mythology and science fiction. Her style can be described as a mix of the surreal and the macabre that both intrigues and fascinates people.

Jessica was born and is still living in Dublin, Ireland. Jessica completed her Degree in 3D design, model making and digital arts in 2019 and during her time there she learned to work with a wide variety of materials and tools. This combined with the skills and knowledge she has gained as a wax work technician and mold maker in bronze art Ireland has influenced the work she creates today.

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram 




Lady Lavinia Ravenswood




THE VAST STRUCTURE OF RECOLLECTION WITHIN OUR EMOTIONAL MOVEMENT OF MEMORY (2024)
Perfume

Lady Lavinia explores the powerful role  ' Scent ' , in it's ethereal nature plays in our psyche into the transformation of  our consciousness..past present and future.I would like to invite the viewer to think about scent not as a physical product  but as  unseen 'spirits'  shifting and    pervading our  memories but remaining invisible. What type of scent evokes your sense of self more than another ?  Does scent awaken your moment of memory ?Scent gives us insights into our relationship with solitude  and sex, a direct path to the soul. .It connects  with  our internal states of consciousness..emotions and fantasies. Predating it's use as a cosmetic the oldest role of scent was it's use in ritual in life and death, a vehicle to the realm of the spirit .The Alchemist  played a vital role in these  rituals. Perfumes were used  in for purification, protection,  healing , seduction and conquest . Scent ' here not here ..of air ..of substance. Conjoured out of spirit ..preparation for death helping the soul to leave a body . It was  the' way of  '  kings'. Timeless and universal .

Rose (Rosa)  is  an aroma  of passion and beauty . It's powerful scent  said to drive away melancholy  and in some traditions used as an aphrodisiac.  The odour of Bergamot uplifts and also calms us at the same time  .The scent of lillium (Lily) evokes emotions of cleanliness purity. Scent - one of lifes most exquisite  pleasures. Scent has inspired ...to inspire after all is literally to breathe in .Perfume has always retained an aura of magic and mystery and No one who becomes immersed in it can fail to be pleasurable changed by the experience. Scent - of matter and spirit. Scent is silent .

Artist Bio:
Lady Lavinia creates artisan  fragrances for the discerning individual. Each perfume  carefully  handcrafted in her home studio  using antique utensils on a edwardian perfumers desktop .,   Her perfume bottles are individually sourced for the recipient. She offers  exquisite  antique  decanters ,rare  crystal  bottles , vintage perfume minatures , perfume pendents ,  vintage pompador neck pieces  and much more ...For those who prefer  contemporary glassware  there is a choice of new travel friendly  bottles made from recycled materials. Lady Lavinia ethos is to always  offer  refilable bottles  and refils will  always  be available  to order. . Sustainability  is of great important to Lady Lavinia , her intention is to create  beautiful unique  perfumes  combined with  offering the recipient a fragrance bottle for life. Lady Lavinias fragrances are crueltyfree and vegan.

Perfume ' One of lifes most exquisite Pleasure's.

As long there has been passion there has been perfume. Perfume has always retained an aura of magic and mystery .lnspired by mystical stories of The spirit of the Alchemist  and ' les Secrets De Maistre Alexys' l was fascinated how scent triggered my emotions and imagination . I began teaching myself the art of perfumery and found l could create ethereal fragrances with depth elegance and lasting beauty . Creating one of a kind fragrances is the ultimate experience for both myself and the recipient. I begin your perfume journey by guiding you through my selected range of essences in my studio.Based on your emotional responses to each scent and how each blend reacts to your skin type l then  can create a number of samples for you to take with you and venture into your own environment.Each scent reacts differently to ones skin , as does an individual  to each scent After this  fascinating period the recipient decides on their custom perfume and this becomes your signature scent, and is available exclusively to you .


Bespoke perfumes by appointment
Lady Lavinia offers
Handcrafted gift cards


' One comes , perhaps, upon a flask of memories . In those escaping scent a soul returns to life'
-Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers Of Evil.




Follow the artist at her website and Instagram.



Padraig Byrne




The Mórrígan (2021) 
Graphite pencil on paper


This piece is my interpretation of the Irish Goddess The Morrigan, a powerful and important member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the ancient Gods of Ireland. The Mórrígan was a goddess of war who often appeared in the form of a crow or raven, this is symbolised by the hybridization of human skulls and crow bodies in my piece. She often appears as part of a trio of goddesses along with Badb and Macha. The shrieking skulls symbolise the Mórrígan’s fierce battle cry and the death it foretold.

Artist Bio:
I am an artist based in Mountmellick, Co Laois. My work examines Irish mythology and early Pagan Ireland, a world full of poetry, magic and a deep connection with nature but also a world of savage battles, of violence and of harsh unforgiving winters.
The process of creating art for me is a spiritual process, allowing me to get closer to our ancestors and the indigenous spirit of our land. I hope in some small way that my art can help keep our stories of the past and the spirit of the ancient Gaels alive.
I work in graphite pencil on paper and my technique involves focusing on very small areas of the piece at a time in order to achieve as much detail as possible. The result is a finish that often resembles a painting rather than a pencil drawing. Human-animal hybridization and interspecies hybridization are often present in my work. I am fascinated by the concept of Pantheism as a part of Paganism, the belief that everything in the world is part of an all encompassing immanent deity, a universal or collective consciousness.  This collective consciousness is often portrayed in my work by the merging of human and animal body parts to create human-animal and interspecies hybrids. My drawings also include elements of nature in the form of native plants, leaves, flowers and berries. Our Pagan ancestors had a deep connection with nature, a connection which is all too often lacking in modern society.
I have previously exhibited pieces in the Cairdre Visual Exhibition in The Model Arts Centre, Sligo in July 2017 and in the Soul Noir Festival in Laragh House, Maynooth in October 2019.

Follow the artist at his Instagram. 


Sandra Oman and David Wray





Dying for Love, a concert performance by Sandra Oman soprano and David Wray pianist.
7.30 - 8.30pm October 31st.

Over four centuries, the opera is frequently not over until the soprano dies! Tragic love is often the catalyst. The theme of love and death has inspired some of the most enduring, well-loved arias in the operatic canon, and international, award-winning soprano Sandra Oman and pianist David Wray invites the audience on an operatic exploration of this darker side of the artform. Prepare for a three-hankie concert, with songs and arias by Purcell, Bizet, Puccini, and Verdi.

About Sandra Oman:
Dublin-born soprano Sandra Oman was the 2004 recipient of the Margaret Burke Sheridan Memorial Award for excellence in the field of opera.  A first-class honours Masters graduate from TU Dublin Conservatoire, Ireland, she has also studied with La Scala soprano Graziella Sciutti and, for many years, Conor Farren. Sandra has performed extensively in opera and concert in Ireland, UK, USA, Italy, Germany, Latvia and Poland, interpreting principal roles in over 40 operas, including Gilda Rigoletto, Mimì and Musetta La Bohème, Liù Turandot, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Elvira Don Giovanni, Despina Così Fan Tutte, Micäela Carmen, First Lady Die Zauberflöte, and Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for companies including Opera Ireland, Lyric Opera, Opera Holland Park, and Longborough Festival Opera. A frequent broadcaster on both television and radio, and an experienced recitalist, she has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and virtually all of Ireland’s major choral societies. With two Number One albums on iTunes to her credit, this multi-faceted performer is also a concert producer and writer, having presented multiple sell-out concerts at the National Concert Hall and nationwide.

Sandra is an Irish Research Council/Government of Ireland Scholar in her final year of PhD research on Giacomo Puccini’s 1893 opera, Manon Lescaut. Awarded the Student Academic Excellence Award for 2020 from TU Dublin Conservatoire,  she has presented academic papers at conferences, both nationally and internationally, and has two forthcoming publications in 2024/2025: for the Università di Pavia, and for the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini in Lucca. Sandra is a staff member of the Vocal Faculty of TU Dublin Conservatoire, lecturing in stagecraft.

Follow the artist on her website and Facebook.

About David Wray:
Pianist David Wray trained at Lancaster University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He has since worked as a pianist and musical director and arranger in the fields of Opera and Musical Theatre. He was Assistant to the director of The English Bach Festival, London, for three years, appearing with them in many productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and throughout Europe. David is currently Artistic & Musical Director for Opera in the Open, Dublin, The Three Irish Tenors, The Irish Sopranos, and Druid. David has arranged and produced CDs for American songstress Danna Davis, Ellen McElroy, Nyle Wolfe and Opera in the Open. He arranged and orchestrated a debut album for Simon Morgan – “I’ll be seeing you” which was recorded with the Filharmonic Orchestra, Prague and, most recently, he arranged and directed Sandra Oman’s debut album Liberty, which shot to Number One in the iTunes Vocal Album Charts in November.  He is on the staff of American College Dublin’s Irish College of Music Theatre.


Sandra Vida



ELEGY (2010)
Video


Originally created as a reflection on the passing of her mother, Elegy: a meditation on mortality, considers the basic human experience of bodily fragility and the inevitability of death. Moving beyond this inherently melancholy theme, the artist expresses an affirmative engagement with the cycles of life. Centred on the body and featuring a recurring walking figure, Elegy is an abstracted, layered composition that combines live-recorded video with a variety of animation techniques in an evocative and poetic manner. This work has been called painterly, visually stunning, and emotionally rich, and pre-dates many of Vida’s works that examine similar themes.

Artist Bio:
Embracing a time-based, multi-disciplinary approach that explores innovative combinations of media, Sandra Vida has been an important contributor to the coming of age of performance, film and video practices in Canada. She has a background in Psychology and English Literature as well as Art, and has exhibited and presented her inter-media work regionally and internationally. Ongoing interests over her long career include her Celtic/Norse ancestry, spiritual exploration, psychological concepts and poetic text. Performances often involve an activist, feminist impulse and a meditative sensibility. Vida’s most compelling recent work is a series of multi-media installations that include aspects of sculpture, sound, text, video projection, and digital collage. She co-curated (with Pauline Cummins) an exhibition of video art (both screened and installation) from Ireland and Canada, called Locus Suspectus. She has been nominated twice for a Governor-General’s award in media arts, and received the Epcor Established Arts award from Calgary’s Mayor for her dedication to the Calgary arts community.

Follow the artist at her website, Facebook and Vimeo.


Séan Fitzgerald



Winter Solstice II (2020)
pen/digital

This artwork represents Samhain, the traditional beginning of the Irish year, when the Cailleach, goddess of winter presided over activities. Underneath her is the Sí a Bhrú at Brú na Bóinne, where, on the morning of the winter solstice, its passageway is illuminated by the first rays of light. This is to protect the earth's fertility, which is a ritual between the sun and the earth. She is the witch healer who protects the primordial balance between light and dark, in a time of year when it was the earth's roots providing our sustenance.

Artist Bio:
Cork illustrator and writer, Seán Fitzgerald's previous works include "The Last Battle of Moytura" and "Lugh na Bua," two extensively illustrated books on Irish myths and folklore which were well-received internationally. In close collaboration with secondary school pupils in County Donegal, he has also documented the folklore and mythology of the area in two illustrated books, "Fádo" and "Féirín Feasa." Seán is currently wrapping up a heavily illustrated study of ancient Irish rituals that draws from folk traditions and Old and Middle Irish texts to reveal the origins and significance of ritual practices within the seasonal cycle of the year.

Follow the artist on his Instagram. 



The Hardliners



Commissioned works in response to the festival
Live reading 1 - 2pm on November 1st.


We warmly welcome our long term collaborators, The Hardliners writing collective, for a special invited reading. Tea, brack and treats will be provided.

The Hardliners are a writing collective of Vision Impaired People or more colloquially known as VIP'S. All of whom have a dark but very expressive imagination. The collective was established in 2017 in Dublin and meet for weekly classes. The writers have been commissioned to write work in response to our final theme, Death, my Bride, with relatable and moving results.

The group members are: Anne O' Brien, Denis Fahey, Eugene Hancock, Martin Kelly and Michael Hayes.

This reading is dedicated to member John O'Brien, writer and friend who passed away in August. John's work will be presented in a special tribute.













The Gothic Interior






Core festival October/November with additional events throughout the year



Irish Architectural Archive, additional venues







The Gothic Interior. Interior darkness. Darkness exterior. The 2023 festival entitled, The Gothic Interior will be held in partnership with Irish Architectural Archive, built in the 1790's in Merrion Square, Dublin. The Gothic Interior programme upholds work that encompasses architectural structural elements or is based within the home, the everyday Gothic - whatever that may be - of the twin self, the shadow and the inner lurking's of the soul. The everyday Gothic is a much understated viewpoint in the wider understanding of the Gothic/ Alternative / Underground canon in that it is less visible but more understood to those who open their minds to it. Dust settling in the evening light, the half shadow of your lovers face, the black slate tiles of your grandmothers kitchen with the black beams of her ceiling overhead. A place to live in, within yourself.

Please find a link to the 2023 catalogue here

Documentation by photographer Chad Alexander. Thank you to everyone who came to the festival and to the artists themselves.

Soul Noir would like to sincerely thank Dublin City Council Arts Office for their support and RTÉ Supporting the Arts for their support also.

Our award winners were:

Audience Favourite - Patrick Loughran
Best Emerging Artist - Lanna Ariel
Dark Heart Award - AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD
Best in Show - Aidan Harte

More additional events for 2023 can be found under the NEWS section which includes;

The Secret Life of Crows talk by Ricky Whelan with Marsh’s Library for World Goth Day

The Magic Making sculptural workshop with 23 young artists from ChildVision
and
Moonworks: A Converstaion with artist Dolorosa de la Cruz at The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Irelan.


The 2023 programme artists are listed below:



Aidan Harte



Minotaur (2018)


Neither man nor beast, the Minotaur is the product of unnatural lust to be found in the Circle of the Violent in Dante’s Inferno.  Anthropologist debate whether humans are innately aggressive, but there’s no debate about war’s glamour. From Achilles to Napoleon, warriors are charismatic and while generals led from the front, wars remained short. In the Nuclear era, war is a potentially-suicidal economic pushing match. This sculpture conveys war’s terrible beauty and fatal allure.  




Cain and Able (2018)


Ireland’s Civil War ended in 1923 and remains taboo. The Bible describes the very first fraternal conflict. Cain’s sacrifice did not please God. Abel’s did. Cain was jealous. His weapon, some say, was a jawbone. This depiction reflects a rabbinical tradition that Cain a metal smith and Abel was a shepherd. The model was the artist’s brother.

Artist bio:
Aidan Harte (b.1979) is a sculptor, best known for his controversial public statue of the Púca in County Clare. Before studing sculpture in Florence, he directed Cartoon Saloon’s first television series, the IFTA winning Skunk Fu. Irenicon, the first of his three novels was published by Hachette in 2012 and subsequently republished in the US. He writes on culture for Quillette, The Critic, The Lamp, The American Mind, and Law & Liberty.

Follow the artist at his website and Instagram.






Aideen Barry




Visual Fistions- Hair Hand series 1 to 3 (2022)

Aideen Barry visual artist based in Ireland but with an international profile. Her work encompasses a vast range of disciplines and subjects, including domestic labour, environmental changes, classism,intersectionality and human vulnerability. Her means of expression are interchangeable, incorporating performance, sculpture, film, text and experimental lens based media. She is a member of  Aosdána and. the Royal Hibernian Academy. Her work is in prestigious private ownership and public museum collections globally. She is currently showing at the Salzburg Kunstverein in Austria and in LagosPhoto at the Fondation Zinsou in Cotonou Benin and in Lagos. She has exhibited widely at venues including: New Art Dealers; New York, Centre Cultural Irlandais, Paris; IMMA; Ireland, CAC Malaga; Spain, The Headlands Center for the Arts;US, Centre for the Less Good Idea; South Africa, Art OMI: New York, Skaftfell: Iceland, Banff Centre; Canada, Salzburg Kunstverein; Austria, Matucana 100; Chile,The Katzen Center at the American Museum;US, Wexner Centre; US, Elephant Gallery;UK, The Whitaker Museum;UK, Moderna Musett; Sweden, Musée des Beaux Arts; Lyon, Louise T. Blouin Gallery, UK, Artscene Shanghai;China and Project 304 Gallery; Bangkok, BAC;Geneva, Liste Art Fair;Basel,Catharine Clark Gallery; US. She has been award prestigious fellowships and prizes including; The Myron Marty Lectureship at Drake University;US,  The Anderson Lectureship atPenn State University;US, Project Awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks 2015, The Golden Fleece Award in 2021, Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award and the Temple Bar Gallery & Studio ISCP residency award 2022.

Aideen will show three works from her Visual Fistions- Hair Hand series 1 to 3 (2022).

Follow the artist at her website and Instagam.





Alan Power





The Crack in the Wall (2020)

A boy is locked in the attic by his father where the line between life and otherworldliness blurs, revealing a dark family secret in this tale of whispered horrors. 

Artist bio:
Alan is a visual artist self-taught in digital media working primarily in 3D animation and film, with a BA (Hons) in Film + Television, from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dublin, Ireland, with a major in sound design. His creative pursuits extend beyond the moving image as he engages in film photography and pole dancing. He is based between Kilkenny and Dublin, Ireland.Driven by a passion for creation, Alan's work explores characters who defy conventions and who do not fit in with their surroundings, experimenting with colour, fashion and cinematography. Never confined to do the same thing, Alan consistently explores diverse approaches and methodologies to his work.With his keen interests, and works in different artforms and crafts, Alan brings a multidimensional perspective to his art, finding inspiration through his travels around the world exploring locations unique energies, visiting dance and theatre shows, and listening to the experiences and stories of people he encounters from all walks of life.Passionate about giving back to the community, Alan has volunteered as an Assistant Facilitator for the Young Irish Film Makers in Kilkenny. Currently, he volunteers as an HIV Rapid Testing Volunteer for MPower in Dublin.

Above all, Alan seeks to embrace each moment with enthusiasm, to have fun, and to live life to the fullest. With an adventurous spirit, he continues to explore new possibilities and experiences while always remaining true to his creative soul.

Follow the artist at his website and Vimeo.





AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD





                                                       


Acoustic Shadow (2023)

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD are celebrating making bent out of shape sounds for twenty three years with a new multitrack tape for The Gothic Interior exhibition. The tape has eight channels of sound capturing the energy of a house and a home since 1790, and before, to the very ground and soil it was built on. The tape will be played with additional live processing.

Artist bio:

MALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD are celebrating making bent out of shape sounds for twenty three years.

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD endeavor to create something new every time, to never repeat once done.

"Our minds exploded witnessing COIL live in Dublin City Hall, that was our ground zero."

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD's experiments occasionally yield a result worthy of celebration with others, more often than not AWW are simply satisfying their own curiosity.

"Hope is in there somewhere, we do not do bleak, healthier for us now to explore the light in the dark."

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD record sound from TV & movies, synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, turntables, tapes, effect pedals, etc, to create a mellow ever evolving tapestry of sound.

"It is how the music sounds on drugs really, but without the music, and without the drugs."

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD last multitrack tape show was at Steven Stapleton's 'Formless Irregular' exhibition at Gallery X D2.

"We played a twenty three year old cassette and simply massaged it gently, most enjoyable gig to date."

"Noise fills the room. A grumble rises like a car starting, expanding until it becomes as big as an airplane taking off in a high pitched whirr, and slowly, a hesitant beat kicks in... he lifts the microphone to his mouth. His voice comes out autotuned and wavy." Claudia Dalby, Dublin Inquirer after seeing  AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD live 2021.

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD recently opened UNIT.TWOZERO in Dublin 3, a creative music studio for all to inspire and create with their plethora of weird and interesting machines and gadgets.

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD new releases will appear on line after experiments produce interesting results. Watch this space. 

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD produce a regular Top 40 show broadcast live from Milliways featuring unsung gems from the musical universe.

AMALGAMATED WONDERS OF THE WORLD pix and studio outtakes.

All of the above plus nothing in particular.






Ann Ensor





Heart Folds in Rock (2023)

This work Heart Folds in Rock, 2023, is an imagined resting shelter for the shadowy interior volatile forces we carry. This work is inspired by the rock folds at Loughshinny. The sculpture measuring Height 2metres, width 1metre, depth 66cm is made with steam bent Oak, woven Kelp seaweed, Kombucha leather, soft fabrics.

Artist bio:
Ann Ensor is a visual artist living in Dublin 15. Her practice is based in sculpture. Ensor’s practice explores the entangled milieus in plant, microscopic and human worlds and asks questions on our anthropomorphic relationship with nonhuman organisms. Our entangled milieus are where we live and coexist in the layers and folds of life. Her present work explores the theme of layers and folds which we find not only in physical structures but also in our emotional being.  This has brought about the making of imagined refuges.  Here a person could remember and contemplate our present and past lives along with our shared relationships with fellow creatures and the earth. We could then dream different approaches to sharing the future. The work has come about due to the emotional stress caused by global warming and our fracture with natural processes. The work is inspired by the Eco philosopher Glenn Albrecht.
The agency within the materials used in Ensor’s sculptures are very important to the outcome of the sculpture and the sustainability of the materials are central to the work.

Ensor exhibited in Rising -Earth Festival at IMMA 2022 and will be exhibiting in The Earth Rising Festival in 2023,  Loughshinny Boathouse Residency 2022, Soul Noir Festival 2023, Complexdublin Gallery, Duo shows Lost Green, 2021 and Ceremony ,2020, curated by Mark O’Gorman and Paul McGrane, Rua Red Winter Open 2021, Solo Show Holdfast, Draiocht 2020 curated by Sharon Murphy.  Ensor holds an MFA Degree in painting (2017) from NCAD where she graduated in 2015 with a BA (1st Hons) in Fine Art /Sculpture. Ensor has been funded by Fingal Arts Office 2018-2023.

‘Heart Folds in Rock’, 2023 has been kindly funded by Fingal Arts Council.

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram. 






Anthony Freeman O’Brien





The Gickna (2023)

Anthony grew up in Oliver Bond House in The Liberties and spent a lot of time looking out his bedroom window at the dereliction that surrounded the flats. His work attempts to bring attention to the unnoticed and unloved parts of everyday life, whether that is people or urban plant life The dublinease for a scruffy pigeon that has no worth is 'gickna'. This saying is also often applied to people as well .


Artist bio:
Anthony grew up in Oliver Bond House in The Liberties and spent a lot of time looking out his bedroom window at the dereliction that surrounded the flats. What fascinated him most was the flowers that would grow from the decay. No matter how forgotten and unloved a space is, it can still produce something beautiful. All nature needs is opportunity and it can flourish all on its own. People inspire him in the same way. If an individual is put in the right environment, they can flourish. Like a flower growing from concrete, a person who has grown out of hardship is often the strongest and most beautiful of characters. Living in Oliver bond and working as a community worker in projects centered on beekeeping of number of hives on the rooftops of Dublin 8 and providing social tours of his community, Anthony has seen how all types of life can thrive if given the right opportunities to do so. His work attempts to bring attention to the unnoticed and unloved parts of everyday life, whether that is people or urban plant life. In his practice he explores various ways of making the power of nature help with mental health and personal growth, even within an inner city setting. As a father he can see every day the positive effect of the natural environment upon his children.

Follow the artist at his Instagram.







Breda Lynch





Chandelier 1 & 2  (2022) from the series Fragments of a Lost Civilisation, 2015- present


A visual artist working in a variety of media, including drawing, photography, print and digital media, video and installation. She engages with dialogues and discourses on - queer feminisms, the western mystery tradition and occulture, appropriation and the economy of the image. The artworks presented in SOUL NOIR are from a larger body of work titled Fragments of a Lost Civilisation, which is ongoing in its production since 2015. Always intrigued by the ideas explored in Edgar Allen Poe's 'Fall of the House of Usher’. The key protagonists, the twins Roderick and Madeline, malady is reflected in the architectural cracks and physical weaknesses of the house. Thereby capturing or reflecting back the psychological disintegration of the main characters resident in the house. This is one of many themes explored in the short story that captures tropes on the double, madness, familial and metaphysical identities. I see these print works titled Chandeliers as tracing aspects of the metaphysical themes captured in the story.

Artist bio:
Breda Lynch has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad. International exhibitions include curated group exhibitions in Scotland, England, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, China, USA and Australia.
Solo exhibitions in Ireland and Northern Ireland include:’Witch and Lezzie’, Ashford Gallery RHA (2017), ‘Fragments of a Lost Civilisation’, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar (2016), ’The Pit and Other Stories’ , at Siamsa Tire Gallery, Tralee (2014), ’Thursday’s Clinic’ , 126 Gallery, Galway (2013), ‘Strangelove’, Black Mariah, Triskel, Cork (2010),’Song to the Siren’, Galway Arts Centre (2009), ‘Place of the Crows’ and ‘Fleurs Fatales’, Context Gallery Derry (2007) and ‘Dark Brides and Silent Twins’ Limerick City Gallery of Art (2006). She is represented in a number of national collections including IMMA, The Arts Council, OPW – Office of Public Works, NUIG Collection – Galway, Luciano Benetton Italy, Trinity College Art Collection, Limerick City Gallery Collection, University of Limerick Collection, Hunt Museum Limerick and other private collections. This year Lynch finished a commission for Meta Open Arts, this print installation titled Blue Dyke Redux is on display in their Dublin offices. In 2024 she will present her latest sole exhibition titled: ‘If Your Not Scared The Atomic Bomb Is Not Interesting’, at The Source Gallery, Thurles, Co Tipperary.


Follow the artist at her website and twitter. 






Conor Connolly




Dark Entries (2021)

We all have a dark gothic interior, the shadow self that needs to be explored and mapped out, but care must be taken in this exploration, for if we delve too deep too quickly we might lose ourselves. Whatever our personal Hell - seemingly inescapable negative thought patterns self-destructive behaviour, or something else, our demons are always waiting for us down in the basement...


Easy is the descent to hell; all night long, all day, the doors of
dark Hades stand open; but to retrace the path; to come out again to
the sweet air of Heaven - there is the task, there is the burden.
- Virgil, Aeneid, 6:126.

Artist bio:
I'm a self-taught artist, based in Dublin, with professiona experience in Graphic Design and Publishing. My academic background includes Literature, Classics, and Psychology. I have also been active in the Dublin dark alternative music scene, as DJ and club promoter/organiser, since the 90s. If it's dark, twisted, gothic,
weird, or just creepy, preferably with a dash of whimsical, I'l probably like it. I draw inspiration from many diverse sources including mythology, music, movies, and literature (especially horror, fantasy, and sci-fi), as well as some of the more unusual aspects of the natura world, such as strange underwater creatures, unusual insects, or bizarre plant life.

Follow the artist at his Instagram. 






Dead Craftsman





Temptations (2020)

The work refers to mythical Garden of Eden and medieval representation of original sin as hurtful desire, which weakens freedom of will and inclines to evil. The work brings theological speculation about the original sin and its significance in modern, consumer driven society. The work incorporates fashion mannequin as Eve tempted by evil...Are the high street shop windows new promise of paradise lost?

Artist bio:
Dead Craftsman is wondering between the boundaries  of slumber land and land of living, collecting the waste elements of pop culture and incorporating them with cut and shattered bits of photographs taken by his own camera. Firmly refusing to be called an artist, Dead Craftsman is using modern technology to pay homage to anonymous masters of medieval visual arts. As he claims, constant battle between sacrum and profanum  became main inspiration of all collage works produced in recent years.

Contact Soul Noir at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com to learn more about the artist.





Dee Barragry





Alone in a Woods in the Rain (2022)from the series Threshold, 2022 - present

By attuning to the frequencies around her, Dee Barragry seeks dialogue through the poetry of place. Here, she considers the alchemical relationship between our inner and outer landscapes. Whether we are drawn to or driven towards a place, a process is initiated in the vulnerability of seeking a footing there. 

Artist bio:

Dee Barragry is an emerging fine art photographer, writer, and artist. A childhood spent between Ireland, Saudi Arabia and Mexico ignited an innate curiosity about origins, identity, and legacy. Much of her work is generated within a state of empathic wandering. In 2021 and 2022 Barragry was awarded an Artist Support Bursary by Fingal Arts Office to undertake “Signals from the Heartland” and to research for “Threshold”, the third of her long-term site-specific fine art photography projects exploring the uniqueness of the Irish Northwest. Her work has been shown in Ireland and the UK. Recent shows include “Made X NW” (2022) at the Dock, Carrick on Shannon, curated by Ruth Carroll, and “Alchemical Vessels” (2023) at 126 Artist-run Gallery & Studios, Galway, curated by Conor Burke. She is a member of Richmond Road Studios and Visual Artists Ireland.

Follow the artist at her Instagram and twitter.






Diana Chambers




The Dancer (2023)

In this painting of the dancer, the figure is wearing an ornate costume for a an event or Traditional custom or ritual and playing a musical instrument. The gestured brush strokes illustrate the rhythm of the dancer as they celebrate.


Artist bio:
Diana Chambers joined the KCAT studio in 2015 where she continues to dedicate herself to the practice of painting. She has shown her work internationally, including at Gallery C8 Überlingen Germany, Galleria Art Kaarisilta Helsinki Finland, and at the Beyond Festival Leeds U.K. She has also shown in numerous exhibitions in Ireland, including at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Farmleigh House Galleries Dublin, F.E. McWilliam Gallery Banbridge, Riverbank Arts Centre Newbridge, Link Hall Gallery Kilkenny, and Crawford Art Gallery Cork. Diana’s work has been featured in publications such as The Engagement Project KCAT (2014-2020) and Perceptions: The Art of Citizenship (2016).  Diana is prolific, often working with speed and producing several works a day. It can seem as if she is trying to keep up with the pace of her thoughts and feelings as she paints, as though the process of painting is constantly trying to catch up with her. It can also seem that Diana feels there is so much in the world to be explored and painted that there is little time to procrastinate. The result is an ever-evolving body of deeply expressive and beautiful works.

Follow the artist here






Dolorosa de la Cruz




Dazzle of the dancing goat (2022)


Remember who you are,behold your forms of glory,and arise! (2023)


Dolorosa de la Cruz's art presents a multifaceted view of the sacred and the sublime, in which forms weave and delineate threads which run core throughout a variety of occult traditions. Bathed in moonlight are offerings to vibrant and vital visions of the divine feminine, in one glimpse a dark and terrible goddess is beheld in awful beauty; at another glance, an expanse of emptiness may bear witness to the very queen of heaven herself. The medium of art yields the result of ritual, an illustration of initiation. Inspiration as divination, intuition as strength, experience as alchemy, and abstraction as a great ocean into which all words are dissolved: Dolorosa’s work is above all a devotional practice, a visceral communion with living spirits underscored by its own logic. As the words of Austin Osman Spare have stated, “the Law of sorcery is its own Law, using sympathetic symbols.”
"To me, who have known
The senses' doubtful lore,
Thy soul is evermore
Mysterious as mine own. 
... 
But in delectable
Dark ways, and wordless speech,
Our hearts throb each to each
The tale we cannot tell." - Clark Ashton Smith


Work featured at top; Dazzle of the dancing goat (2022) and Remember who you are,behold your forms of glory,and arise! (2023) Follow the artist at her Instagram. 







Dr. Danielle O'Donovan




Special lecture commission, Life in the Margins ... a Spotter's Guide to the Joys of Irish Gothic Architecture,
6 – 7pm, November 1st 


Irish Gothic architecture is characterised by a delight in creativity, asymmetry and a love of marginal detail. This lecture will explore the introduction of the Gothic style into Ireland and trace how that style took on an Irish aesthetic - most clearly seen in the architecture of the later medieval period. The lecture will act as a field spotter's guide to the delights of Irish Gothic that are waiting to be discovered.

Artist bio:
Dr. Danielle O'Donovan is an architectural historian and heritage professional. She has taught architectural history at Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and Cork Centre for Architectural Education. Danielle has spent her career advocating the joys of learning in the built heritage environment. She has worked for Trinity Irish Art Research Centre, The Irish Heritage Trust, The Irish Museum of Modern Art and Nano Nagle Place, Cork City.

Follow the artist at her twitter.






Eileen Mulrooney





Still Life (2021)

Eileen spent some time working on still life as her subject matter to explore in more detail shape, form and color and using the background to allow her inherent abstraction elements collide with solid form. Eileen’s use of color adds a sinister atmosphere and make the viewer more aware of the unseen human present.


Artist bio:
Eileen Mulrooney’s love of art was fostered at the Presentation College in Carrick-on-Suir before she went on to study at KCAT, where she has been a member of KCAT studio since 2005. Eileen has shown widely in Ireland and internationally, including at the Kilkenny Design Centre; the Freight Gallery Fremantle; the Butler Gallery Kilkenny, Gallery Prabelli Wiltz; the Crawford Gallery Cork; the West Cork Arts Centre; and the Linenhall Arts Centre Castlebar. Her work has been featured alongside the work of her KCAT colleagues in the feature documentary Living Colour by Wild Fire Productions. Her work has also been featured in several publications, including The Engagement Project KCAT 2014-2020; Perceptions 2016 , The Art of Citizenship; Art & Inclusion, The Story of KCAT 2009. Eileen works primarily in water-based oils and sometimes in pencil. She explores how the built environment and the natural world intersect through work that frequently features locations and contexts that she feels a personal connection with, such as places that she has lived, worked and visited. With care and sensitivity, Eileen gives a great deal of time to features such as the contrasting colors of leaves, the shape of tree trunks on either side of a road, the bounce of light and water around boats.

Follow the artist here. 





Esther Raquel Minsky




Special artist commission, The House on Merrion Square  by Esther Raquel Minsky.
7. 20 – 8.00pm October 31st.

Photo by by Paul Reardon

After years of drifting along the north coast of Dublin, Esther turned up in the city square one dark evening in late autumn. Those who saw her said she looked ghostly and ragged. Those who witnessed what she said heard her repeat one man’s name again and again - Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu...

Artist bio:
Esther Raquel Minsky, known to many simply as Esther, has worked in a variety of professions throughout her life, from shopgirl to writer, from dressmaker to male impersonator. Her existence has been played out in river cities and port towns around the world, from Warsaw to Balbriggan, from Wexford to Montevideo.

Contact Soul Noir for more information about the artist at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com.





The Hardliners





Special group commission of written works

1 - 2 pm, November 1st

Soul Noir is very pleased to present a special presentation by The Hardliners writing collective. The collective had been commissioned to write works in response to the 2023 festival  theme, The Gothic Interior. 

About the collective:

A haunting, special invited reading from The Hardliners writing group. The Hardliners are a writing group of VisionImpaired People or more colloquially known as VIP'S. All of whom have a dark but very expressive imagination. The members have been commissioned (or possessed?) to make a selection of pieces for us to enjoy. The group members are: Anne O' Brien, Denis Fahey, Eugene Hancock, John O' Brien, Martin Kelly and Michael Hayes. Recent accolades include John O'Brien's commission to write a poem for Ballina Arts Centre in 2021 and Anne O'Brien winning the Best Emerging Artist Award at Soul Noir in 2022.


Contact Soul Noir for more information about The Hardliners at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com.






James Wellwood



Seeking Higher Things (2023) 

Seeking Higher Things (2023)was created as part of a linocut series focusing on Irish history, in this case a ceiling within what was once known as the Good Shepherd Convent and Magdalene Laundry, but today is the Limerick School of Art and Design.


Artist bio:
James Wellwood is a Kilkenny based artist that specializes in painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture. His works reflect his keen interest in the colours, shapes, and patterns of the Irish landscape and Irish culture as a whole.  Beginning his Art education at Ormonde College in Kilkenny, James completed his level five and six certificates in Fine Art before going on to study painting in Limerick School of Art and Design where he is currently continuing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting.

Follow the artist at his Instagram.





Lanna Ariel




The Guardian of Freedom (2023)

Lanna Ariel is an oil painter based in Galway. Her paintings are usually composed of figurative elements emerging from a dark unknown while the exploration of symbolism allows her to connect art history, spirituality & intuition. Lanna’s works are meant to be containers of elements that tell of transformation, wrapped in scenarios rich in symbolism to be deciphered.

Artist bio:
Lanna Ariel was born in Brazil, where she worked as a Gallerist Manager and Curator at Caixa Cultural Brasilia; Graduated in Visual Arts at the University of Brasilia – UNB in 2018 just before moving to Ireland, where she began to devote herself to her art. This change continues to have a great impact on her work. Lanna’s artistic research explores the symbolism behind subjects, objects and figures, as well as its meanings and beliefs in different cultures. Her narratives are carefully gathered merging witchcraft, science, astrology & mythology while also inspired by different eras in art history including symbolism, victorian, surrealism and contemporary. Lanna exhibits her work in Ireland and also internationally.

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram. 





Lee Shanahan





Blue Portrait Hangs in the Narrow Room (2022)

In Blue Portrait Hangs in the Narrow Room Shanahan explores the idea of the painter contemplating one’s own work and questioning the idea of what makes a conventual self-portrait. The ‘Blue Portrait’ (Girl with Animal Bone - 2022) can only be glimpsed at. The artists shadow is cast on the wall in the act of peering through the open doorway to where the recently finished painting hangs in the next room.


Shanahan's work is an exploration of the human being and the environment in which one is set. The artist’s work focuses on interaction and relationship. Drawn to communication and narrative in their most basic forms, it is imagery without embellishment or unwanted distraction. Shanahan takes inspiration from writers such as Cormac McCarthy and Raymond Carver, admiring their minimal, heavily charged approach to the written word. This is something he tries to replicate in visual terms.  Lee has been awarded the Kilkenny Emerging Artist Award 2022 by Kilkenny Arts Office and has been previously published twice in ROPES Literary Journal 2021 & 2022, his artwork has also been published on the cover of SONDER Magazine 2022. Lee Is currently studying at Limerick School of Art and Design.

Follow the artist at his Instagram. 




Lindsay LeBlanc




Phantom Bouquet (2023)

Lindsay LeBlanc’s Phantom Bouquet takes its title from an 1860’s book instructing women how to skeletonize plants and seeds. Skeletonizing foliage, or maceration is when plant tissue is chemically removed to reveal the internal cellular structure. At a time when botanical science was gender exclusive, this book offered a domestic opportunity to participate, while encouraging ways to maintain a tasteful home. The following text entangles a description of the presented work with an excerpt from The Phantom Bouquet: a popular treatise on the art of skeletonizing leaves and seed vessels and adapting them to embellish the home of taste:


Our preference is for a loose, airy-looking arrangement of borosilicate glass leaves, rising at the summit almost to contact the antique c.1864 glass dome under which they are contained. This borosilicate glass shade is abundantly large and of about the same height as its diameter.


The cushion that underlies the white skeletons, to our taste, may be best of shiny black velvet. The image of an ornamental and endarkened environment for illuminated glass, which shines in contrast with The Phantom Bouquet’s shadows cast on the wall.


One of the most appropriate surmountings is the tallest fern form. Its top curves gracefully mimicking the curves of the dome and is arranged amongst a collection of handcrafted glass leaves, seed pods, and branches.


It will then form a fitting ornament to the Soul Noir Festival, illustrating how the material nature of glass can freeze a strange organic moment in time.


Artist bio:
Lindsay LeBlanc is a visual artist based in The Burren, West Ireland. Her artistic research engages with EcoGothic studies; investigating Gothic literature and current biodiversity data to find historical tensions between human and botanical nature. Using this framework currently in her work, Lindsay explores the importance surrounding an inclusive coexistence between the human and more-than-human world using traditional glass craft, immersive installation, and cinematic techniques to stage eco-horror narratives. The eco-horror genre within her practice filters reimagined future ecologies and bridges these disciplines, proposing ways in which botanical nature can be better understood as a site of articulation for environmental empathy.

Follow the artist at her Instagram. 




Madeleine Doherty




Live Harp performance

October 31st 6 – 7pm

An hour of atmospheric harp on Oíche Shamhna. Madeleine is a classically trained harpist with over twenty years experience as a professional musician. She has qualifications in counselling and celebrancy, in addition to her energy healing training.

Artist bio:
Harp therapy is playing the harp with the conscious intention of providing soothing music to facilitate relaxation, calm and a sense of wellbeing. A Bedside Harp trained therapeutic harpist knows what kind of sound and music to provide in any given healthcare setting, to achieve the best patient outcomes in partnership with clinical staff. 
As part of her training, Madeleine Doherty played over 100 hours by the bedside in all areas of a general hospital working alongside doctors and nurses, playing therapeutic music in the Emergency, Critical Care, Dialysis, Cardio Recovery, Physical/Occupational Therapy, Surgical and Medical Departments. Her work was supervised by a Master Harp Therapist and the founding director of Bedside Harp, Edie Elkan. Data was collected for all encounters with patients, visitors and staff, which can be referenced if required. There are no training facilities for this therapeutic playing by the bedside in Ireland. Neither are there suitable harps available. Madeleine completed her training in the summer of 2017, and purchased a therapy harp for her work in Ireland.

Madeleine is a classically trained harpist with over twenty years experience as a professional musician. She has qualifications in counselling and celebrancy, in addition to her energy healing training. Trained as a Celtic harpist in Ireland, Madeleine won a scholarship to study classical music in the US where she studied classical harp. As a solo artist she has toured Europe, the US and the Caribbean and has recorded for radio and television both in Europe and America. Madeleine plays both Celtic and pedal harp. Her Little Big Blue concert harp was made by Camac, the French harp manufacturers.

Follow the artist at her website. 





Magdolna Toth



The Black Orb (2020)

Magdolna Toth artist delves into the mesmerizing world of intersections, and translucency, through her paper porcelain sculptures. The Black Orb embodies the delicate balance between overlapping grids, resilient bearing structures, and interconnected networks. Each sculpture celebrates our shared existence, inviting viewers to contemplate life's intricate tapestry.

Artist bio:
Magdolna Toth completed her studies at the Hungarian Applied Art Institute (MOME) in 1990, specializing in Porcelain-Ceramic Industrial Design. From 1993 to 2000, she contributed to Budapest's construction sector, focusing on architectural ceramics and restoration projects. Her designs attracted commissions from IKEA, alongside hotels in Budapest, Vienna, and Berlin.Relocating to Ireland in 2008, Magdolna engaged in community art initiatives, achieving a Socially Engaged Postgraduate Diploma in 2013 from NCAD. Collaborating with Wicklow town's community, she crafted an installation from recycled materials. In Dublin, she was working on creating a cultural hub for Hungarians. Beginning her independent art journey in 2019, Magdolna exhibited her creations at notable events. Her work graced Ceramics Ireland's 2019 exhibition and gained recognition at Cluj-Napoca International Ceramic Biennale. London Craft Week featured her in the Cluster Crafts London exhibition in 2020, presented through an interactive 2021 publication due to the pandemic.

In 2021, Magdolna's 'Sunrise' sculpture earned a place in the Hungarian Ceramic Biennale, and her 'Black Sphere' piece adorned Dublin's Royal Hibernian Art Gallery Annual Exhibition.  Continuing her stride in 2022, Magdolna exhibited at the 192nd RHA Annual Exhibition and made the preliminary selection for the Blanc de China Ceramic Award. The momentum persists in 2023, as she showcases her art at Spain's Museums Espulgues International Ceramic Biennal, Dublin's Sculpture in Context Botanical Gardens, the RUA Belfast Annual Exhibition, and China's Blanc de Chine exhibition in Hangzhou.

Follow the artist at her Instagram. 





Marie Phelan





They Came to Earth as Rain (2022)

Marie Phelan is a multidisciplinary artist whose focus lies in the realms of transformation, magic, ritual, and belief. Her work on paper, They Came to Earth as Rain, is informed by the happenings of the Otherworld and features a hybrid being that dwells in a non-linear mythological time.


Artist bio:

Marie Phelan is a multidisciplinary artist who expresses her work through audio, drawing, moving image, site-specific exploration, and installation. The persistence of the Otherworld in the landscape, interwoven with questions of identity and culture, informs her artistic investigations. Currently her research is centred on cultural histories, mythologies, archaeologies, and the teaching of Magical Societies. Most recently she was resident at Fire Station Artist Studios, Dublin through a Digital Practice Award (2023); exhibited at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Co. Louth (2023) and engaged in a Live Drawing Collaboration through PS2, Belfast (2023). She has also exhibited at 126 Gallery & Studios, Galway (2023); Castletown House, Kildare (2021); The Lab Gallery, Dublin (2020), The Complex, Dublin (2017); and Sculpture in Context, Dublin (2016). She has previously held residencies at Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, Kerry (2023) and at Paragon Studios, Belfast (2022).

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram. 




Mark Kent


The Reconstruction-Jones's Lane 1910 (2022)

The film wanders the lain of a sleeping town, a place that disappeared a hundred years ago. As we wander, we slip in time between ages. We slip into a building and up laneway trying to discover where we are. We are not invited to look at monuments but old walls and holes instead of the parts that were destroyed in the war and the parts that have slowly disappeared over time. I was interested in the way a building becomes a projection of their owner's self-image and aspirations. There is a strange relationship with the past in the stories we chose to tell, there is a way of talking about the history of our town that I found unconvincing as if there was some agreement to keep some secrets. accounts of the war are sworn to silence and collective trauma is denied.

Artist bio:
Mark kent is an artist based in co cork Over 25 years my work has been a response to places in the landscape, particularly sites of temporary structures and abandoned buildings. An important project was the recording
of houses in Norway, photographs taken over a number of years during something that can only be described as an endurance piece, where at each visit I was cycling for three months at a time and sleeping rough.

My process involves gathering information about places to create an archive which allows me to develop art works as data-visualisations. Lately I have been working in the area of experimental documentary films using 3D modelling and animation software. I have also found recordings of oral histories. In the films I recreate lost places, and my focus the last few years has been my hometown’s destruction and repair following the war of independence. There has been an erasure of history, a sort of amnesia which I think this is a huge loss.

Follow the artist at his website, Instagram and Facebook.






Mark Walsh





Phosphorus River III (2023) part of the series Requiem for a River

Mark is currently working on a project titled “Requiem for a River”.
It is a photographic response to pollution due to the leaching of phosphorus and nitrogen into Ireland's rivers, lakes and estuaries. This directly results from the dramatic increase of the beef and dairy herd in Ireland since 2010. Images from “Requiem” have been exhibited in "71% - The State of Water" as part of the Trieste Photo Days Festival and will be published in the photobook of the same title.

Artist bio:
Mark Walsh is a lens-based artist living in Ireland. He has had work exhibited and printed in Exhibitions and Art publications internationally.

Follow the artist at his website and Instagram. 





Patrick Loughran



Golden Throned Dawn (2020)

In this painting, a still life layout was created using castings of wax figures, interpretating a scene from Homers’ “Odyssey” where Odysseus and Penelope are re-united. In this work themes such as The Grotesque, Metempsychosis, and The Surreal are explored.


Artist bio:
Patrick Loughran works as a painter, sculptor and printmaker and as had work included in public and private collections along with several group shows. In my new work I have been developing an interest in the grotesque as an aesthetic. I see it as a vehicle which carries ideas on metempsychosis, evolution, the surreal and the gothic. Influences come from classic literature, symbolism in art, science fiction and mythology.

Follow the artist at his Instagram. 



Patricia Hennessy



Shifting Tides (2023)

Shifting Tides is part of Hennessy’s MFA project (2023) Between Land and Sea which proposes a hybrid identity, drawing on mythologies of the mermaid. The painting was inspired by explorations of sea caves in North County Dublin. The cave posits the viewer in a passageway between inside and outside realms.


Artist bio:
I have an expanded painting practice where wall hung works on traditional surfaces share space with three-dimensional prop like pieces. The paintings and props stage a fragmented narrative depicting sublime or supernatural settings with figures representing Romantic figures such as the mystic, the adventurer, the artist. The paintings of figures and environments, assembled from dissimilar histories and narratives, consider states of mental and physical reverie. While the work is informed by images captured through photography or film, abstract paint marks point to associations between real and imaginary worlds. My painting moves between the illusionistic possibilities of paint and immersion in paint’s material quality.


Follow the artist at her website and Instagram.



Sarah Keenan




Poppy (2021)


Through my eyes I imagine people as various different animals based off their similar personality traits. This piece titled ‘’Poppy’’ depicts a restrained human-rabbit girl. She is angry and vulnerable and glares at the viewer.

Artist bio:
Sarah Keenan is an Irish oil painter who holds a BA level 8 in fine art from ATU in Galway.  My work takes the natural world and its interplay with the social and political world as primary subject matter, using fantasy, reality to highlight the relationship between the forces of nature and society. I am interested in the kinship between human and non-human beings. Anthropomorphic creatures appear in my paintings, blurring the line between animal and human, emphasising their similarities; their facial structures and appearances. Blurring these lines is important to me as I break away from any disconnect between species. This disconnect has its roots in histories of colonisation/extraction and can be seen in current environmental destruction of natural resources and habitats. My imagery is spiritual, as my creatures hold their own unique power, but also draws on urgent social issues, including gender-based violence. I use contrasting colours to show the difference between vibrant creatures and the darkness that haunts and surrounds them.

Follow the artist at her Insatgram.






Serena Caulfield




Ghosts in the Garden (2022)

Serena Caulfield is an artist based in Wexford, beside the sea. Ghosts in the Garden depicts a mythological white hare that often appeared in the artist’s four hundred year old garden. It was said to have been started by hunters in the grove, rounded the house by way of Blind Lane and the gardens to leap up on the front windowsill and disappear.


Artist bio:
Serena Caulfield is an artist who makes paintings. Memories morph into tall tales. Invented imagery invites novel narratives. Transforming old to new, past to present, absence to presence, here to there, she likes to paint quickly and think slowly.

Serena has exhibited regionally and nationally. Solo exhibitions include converge at Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, (2023) Not somewhere else but here at Wexford Arts Centre, (2023) Convergences at Ballina Arts Centre (2023) and Flexions at Luan Gallery, Athlone (2021). She is currently working towards a major solo exhibition at Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, and a solo gallery exhibition at Solomon Fine art, Dublin, in spring 2024

Recent group shows includeWIDE OPEN SPACE, at Wexford Co. Council Buildings, BEEP Painting Biennial, Wales, GENERATION2022: New Irish Painting, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Zurich Portrait Prize, at the National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Art Gallery, 140th Annual Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition, Belfast, Crossings at King House, Boyle Arts Festival (2021), and MEET at Periphery Space, Gorey School of Art, (2021).

Previous awards include The Arts Council of Ireland Visual Arts Bursary, Platform 31 Artist Award, Artlinks Visual Arts Bursary and the Arts Council Agility Award. Serena has an MA in Fine Art from NUA, Norwich, UK (2009) and a BA from Gorey School of Art and Wexford Campus School of Art and Design, IT Carlow.
Her work is held in Wexford Co. Council collection, and in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram. 





Shane Hynan




Untitled Self Portrait, No. 04-02, 2019. (2019)

‘Untitled Self Portrait, No. 04-02’ was taken while experimenting with portraiture using analogue medium format photography, and was shot in an old house with high sash windows. The image draws upon themes of duality and isolation.


Artist bio:
Shane Hynan is a full-time visual artist and photographer based in Kildare. He works primarily in the medium of photography but experiments with sound, video, collage, text and sculpture. His practice draws upon conceptual and documentary photographic approaches and focuses on rural Ireland, bogs and the built environment. Duality as ‘the condition of being dual’ is an integral part to his photographic process and output. The use of photography as a tool of expression, drawing on an emotional and intuitive connection with topography, is a core concern within his work. The metaphorical exploration of place and space underpins his visual enquiry and acts as a significant subtext throughout his practice.  Hynan has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad including China, the UK and Germany. He was shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition 162 and 163, and received a Visual Arts Bursary Award from the Arts Council in 2020 and 2022.

Follow the artist at his website, Facebook  and Instagram.







The Seventh Shroud








Musical performance 8.25 – 8.55pm, October 31st

Performers of original 80s  goth rock music, The Seventh Shroud, tell of places of shelter.

We find shelter within, where we go to hide or escape The Other – or places in the dark where we may be safe – even in what for others may be a final resting places (cemeteries or graveyards)  which serve as shelter from the light of day, before we go out again into the night in vampiric form.


Ava Vox bio:
Singer and Radio DJ, Ava Vox has already performed and produced several albums. Her latest single, Crash (from the album Immortalised) has  had excellent reception on local and international radio stations as well as clubs. Ava’s original band, The Seventh Veil was formed in the 80s and won Battle of the Bands.
Apart from a few remaining live recordings and demos, the old songs have been lost in time, but with the help of Seth (bass) and Michael (guitar) these are being recreated under the new name The Seventh Shroud.



Follow the artists at
The Seventh Shroud on Instagram
Ava  on Instagram and her website 
Seth  on Instagram
Michael  on Instagram

Magics and Ritual





Core festival October/November with additional events throughout the year


The Irish Georgian Societies City Assembly House,  additional venues




The 2022 theme was Magics and Ritual. Ritual is critical in all processes of life. The daily ritual of how we develop a relationship with tasks, with people and objects in our short time on earth. Developing relationships with forces beyond this earth also requires ritual. It is needed to connect us. This is where magic comes into play. Soon the magic of life and ritual become one. Drawing from Ireland's rich history of paganism and witchcraft, this year's theme will bring us beyond the bounds of this earth. The 2022 Fire Brand Breda Lynch inspired work that also draws on queer magic,  queer occultism, and queer gothic in the programme. The festival location and partner was The Irish Georgian Societies City Assembly House in the Knight of Glin Room (the first purpose built gallery space in Europe) and the O’Connell Room. The site was bulit between 1766 and 1771.


You can access the 2022 catalogue here
You can access our wonderful private funders here. We would also like to thank Dublin City Council Arts Office for their support.


Documentation by photographer Chad Alexander. Thank you to everyone who came to the festival and to the artists themselves.

More additional events for 2022 can be found under the NEWS section which includes;

The Clay Creatures sculpural workshop with 8 young artists from ChildVision



Our award winners were:

Audience Favourite - Michael Keane
Best Emerging Artist - Anne O’Brien (The Hardliners)
Dark Heart Award - Glenn McQuaid
Best in Show - Alice Maher









The 2022 programme artists are listed below:


Aepril Schaile





I Guard Your Death.
Sorcery, Prophecy, Otherworld (2022)
Performance 8 - 8.20, October 31st



A medial, ritual performance of dance and poetry.

Via dance and chanted poetry Aepril will give testimony to her communications and devotional workings with The Morrigan, her sorcerous magicks, her poems and prophecies, as well as personal interactions with the Sídhe, necromantic encounters, and initiations via the landscape. She will draw on Irish source texts such as the Cath Maige Tuired, documented folklore, charms and spells, approaching them with night-perception and weaving them into an embodied, oracular dream of invoked and shifting presences.

Aepril is an Irish-American diaspora descendant; she is also an immigrant living in Sligo, Ireland. This performance speaks to the recalibration of her energetic body as a Witch via engagement with the land and spirits, ancestral connections remembered, shifting cultural perspectives, a quest for sovereignty and belonging, and increasing feelings of urgency and outrage concerning ecology and kinship with our non-human relations. She draws on her lived experience dancing in stone circles and forests of Ireland.

Artist Bio:
Aepril Schaile is an American witch, dancer, poet, teacher and astrologer living in Ireland. She has toured extensively throughout the US and Europe teaching and performing bellydance and performance art. She is the owner of Aepril’s Arcana. Aepril walks the serpent path along the western Irish sea-coast and forests with her canine companion Gwyddion. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art.


Follow the artist at her website, Instagram, Twitter and Patreon.




Pauline Cummins and Ailbhe MacDonagh







What is Life? (2022)
Performance 6.30 - 7.30, October 31st

This work is a new performance by Pauline Cummins with Ailbhe McDonagh, entitled, What is Life? The artist will present images of grieving, mourning and acceptance, in the beautiful building of The Georgian Society, Dublin. This new work, made especially for Soul Noir, reflects on our recent history of loss and isolation and on the Victorian's rituals around death and dying.

Artist Bios:
Pauline Cummins’ performance and video work examines the human condition from a feminist perspective. Research driven themes of the political body, activism, human rights and gender are often explored in the artist’s practice. Cummins likes to collaborate with artists and communities in public sites and situations; including within prisons as a visiting artist and was the founding chairperson of the Women’s Artist Action Group, (WAAG). Cummins lectured at the National College of Art and Design from 1994 – 2014. Her work is in both national and international collections including The Irish Museum of Modern Art and the National Maternity Hospital. Commissions include the Newgrange Interpretive Centre, New St. Park (Dublin) and the National Maternity Hospital.

Current exhibitions include The Narrow Gate of the Here-and-Now, Protest and Conflict, IMMA. Additionally a new retrospective book of Walking in the Way: Performing Masculinity, Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti, published by WAAG is now available and can be purchased here. Cummins was  recently an Artist in Residence at The Irish Museum of Modern Art from 2021 – 2022.

Follow the artist at her website here.



Irish cellist Ailbhe McDonagh is an international soloist, chamber musician and composer who performs throughout Europe, Asia and the USA.She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York (Steven Doane) and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin (Aisling Drury-Byrne, William Butt). McDonagh gave her debut recital with celebrated Irish pianist John O’Conor at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland.
'Out of several performances of the Beethoven A major sonata heard over 30 years, McDonagh’s was the most musically complete and satisfying' (The Irish Times)As a chamber musician, she performs with ‘The McDonagh Sisters’ with pianist Orla McDonagh. She is also a member of the Ficino Ensemble and the crossover traditional Irish music group, Trio Elatha where she plays traditional Irish music on the cello.
McDonagh is also an established composer with numerous compositions and commissions to her name. Boosey & Hawkes, London published two books of her piano music entitled ‘It’s a Piano Thing’ and more recently ‘It’s a Cello Thing’, two books of her pedagogical pieces for cello. Further works for cello include a solo suite commissioned by the Arts Council of Ireland and the title piece for her recent ‘Skellig’ album for cello and piano. McDonagh has also been published by ABRSM, RIAM and Hal Leonard McDonagh's albums include 'Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas 1-5‘ (2021, Steinway & Sons music label, New York) with renowned pianist and Beethoven specialist John O'Conor 'It’s a Cello Thing’ (2012 CD of the week on RTE Lyric FM) and ‘Skellig’ (2020 Irish Examiner, Top Picks of the Year). McDonagh joined the cello faculty of the RIAM in 2010 and she enjoys regular invitations to give masterclasses. She performs on a Postacchini cello.

Follow the artist at her website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.



Alice Maher




Cassandra’s Necklace(2013)

This ritual neck piece in the form of a necklace of tongues, was created by Alice Maher in conjunction with jewellery maker Daniele Vesque. It was made in response to the artist’s own film ‘Cassandra’s Necklace’, in which the eponymous seer of Troy, played by Charlie Murphy, dons a necklace of lamb’s tongues as a symbol of defiance.  This is to signify the voice that was taken from her and from all people who raise their voices and are violently silenced.  


Artist Bio:

Alice Maher is a visual artist.  Her work touches on a wide range of subjects often reprising, challenging and expanding mythic and vernacular narratives. Her artistic practice spans painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, animation and video.  Her first major solo show was at the Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin in 1994. That same year she represented Ireland at the Sao Paolo biennale. In 2012 the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented a retrospective of the artists 30 year practice. ‘Becoming’ included many iconic works as well as a newly commissioned film, ‘Cassandra’s Necklace’. Her work can be seen in many international collections including The Neuberger Museum, The Hammond Museum, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MOMA, the British Museum and the Georges Pompidou Centre Paris.

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram.




Andrew Manson






The Moon (2021)


The Moon (2021), painted in thin washes of Payne’s Grey Acrylic, on plywood with a blue ground and is 30cm x 39cm, Andrew has always been intrigued by the New Moon appearing over the hill behind his house, while light lingers in the sky, for these 40 years.


Artist Bio:

(Originally from Brighton, United Kingdom) is a graduate from the Dun Laoghaire art school. He specialises in fine art painting but also works in photography, performance and film. His work embraces the tradition of remembrance in art and daily practice.Andrews collections of small paintings and accompanying photography often become the ingredients of his larger 'Diary' pieces or 'This Is Not A Game' series 1980's on the Gulf and Yugoslavian wars and his more recent 'This Is A Game' paintings: Concerning the artistic life.Manson's works are characterised by the use of everyday activities in which shared differences play an important role. Manson takes daily life as his subject matter, making work using creative game tactics, but these are never permissive.Manson's serious works demonstrate how life extends beyond its own subjective limits and often tells a story about the good effects of questioning our place in the false histories that propound the here & now. Andrew's works have been selected for the RHA 1982, 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively. Andrew is the founder of Ballyrogan House and works and lives there.

Follow the artist at his website and Facebook. 



Ann Ensor








Alltar (2022)

This work ‘Alltar’ was made by growing the mycelium of the Golden Oyster Mushroom. Spores of this fungus were grown on straw, wastepaper and old wool using a plastic water bottle as a mould. They were then crystallised by baking the form in the oven. The mushroom caps were made from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast known as a scoby. This is used in making kambucha. The excess was dried and moulded over bowls. The shrine was made from steam bending air dried oak.  

Artist Bio:

Ann Ensor’s practice explores entangled milieus in plant, microscopic and human worlds. She seeks to ask questions on our anthropomorphic relationship with nonhuman organisms. Her work investigates the subject/object and culture/nature dichotomies and looks to be a catalyst in changing our relationship with nonhumans, to seeing ourselves as part of an entanglement of forces or a hyper object. Environmental issues are central to her practice. Ensor has been researching soil and in particular mycelium, which is the vegetative part of a fungus. It consists of a mass of branching hyphae fibres feeding on debris underground. Mycelium can  digest all forms of materials from flesh, plants, rocks, waste of all sorts, pollutants, and even radioactive material. They have been around the planet long before humans and have been cleaning up their mess and working at rebalancing the planet. Ensor’s sculptures raise awareness as to what is meaningful to us individually and collectively in this way of considering matter and asks questions of the need to revaluate our androcentric world to a world of shared spirituality with other milieus.


Ann Ensor, graduated from NCAD in 2015 with a first-class honours degree and completed an MFA in NCAD in 2017 and her work ‘Fusing Forces’ was selected for the R.D.S. Visual Arts Awards Finals in 2017. She has just completed a residency at Loughshinny Boathouse in April/May 2022. Her recent work has been included in Earth Rising IMMA Eco-Festival 2022, Complexdublin Gallery, Lost Green, 2021, Duo Show curated by Mark O’Gorman and Paul McGrane

Rua Red Winter Open 2021

Complex Gallery Ceremony, 2020, Duo Show curated by Mark O’Gorman and Paul McGrane

Solo Show Holdfast, Amharc Fhine Gall at Draiocht 2020 curated by Sharon Murphy

Publication, HoldFast, Amharc Fhine Gall commissioned by Fingal County Council Arts Office

Residency 2019 at Ballinglen Arts Centre, Mayo

Exhibitions 2019, Open Submissions, Royal Ulster Academy Annual Show

Soul Noir Festival ,2021, 2019,2018,2017

The Court House Gallery 2019

Fingal Co. Council Artists’ Support Scheme award 2021, 2020, 2019 & 2018

Exhibited at Peripheries Open, 2018, Gorey School of Art, open submission

Exhibited with Louisa Casas at Pallas Project Studio for the Open Submission Artist - Initiated Projects, Oct - Nov 2018

Exhibited at Heavy Weather, group show at the Complex, 2018

Exhibited in the RHA Summer Show 2018

Exhibited at KFest 2018

Follow the artist at her website, Instagram and Soundcloud. 



Boz Mugabe







SPEAKING IN TONGUES  (2020)

Boz Mugabe is a visual artist living and working in Ireland. In former life Boz worked rapidly by candlelight on illicit and heretical codices, narrowly avoiding much-deserved execution.

Follow the artist on his website, Instagram and Facebook.




Breda Lynch (The 2022 Fire Brand)





Witch Shop (2015 - present)

The artworks presented in Soul Noir are from a larger body of work titled Fragments of a Lost
Civilisation, which is ongoing in its production since 2015. These cyanotype/digital prints are
meditations on our relationship with rituals informed by occultism, spirituality and consumerism.


Artist Bio:

Breda Lynch - born in Kilkenny and lives in Limerick city where she works as a full-time lecturer in Fine Art at Limerick School of Art and Design. She holds a BA (Hons)Degree in Fine Art Print at Crawford College of Art, an MA in Fine Art fromChelsea College of Art and Design, London and an MPhil in Fine Art Print and Digital Media from the University of Wolverhampton. A visual artist working in a variety of media, including drawing, photography, print and digital media, video and installation. She engages with dialogues and discourses on - queer feminisms, the western mystery tradition and occulture, appropriation and the economy of the image. Lynch has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in Ireland and abroad. A recipient of several awards and residencies Lynch is included in national and private collections. Her work was recently purchased by IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Arts Council of Ireland for their permanent collections.

Follow the artist at her website and Twitter.



Chloe McKeown





I’m watching this bcz i killed my first pigeon (2020)

This work uses footage, comments and product shots found online to examine the act of bird hunting.The work explores tactics that are used to lure birds in for shooting and calls into question the classification of these birds as ‘pest’ or ‘vermin’. It explores how this language is used to justify the objectification of these non-humans.


Artist Bio:

Chloe McKeown is an emerging multidisciplinary artist who graduated from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in 2020 with a first class honours BA in Art. She is based outside of Navan in county Meath, where her working environment is surrounded by the rural landscape and various agricultural practices taking place in the area. Her work examines the ways in which the bodies of non-human animals are objectified and commodified by the human animal. This is done by investigating industries that are reliant on this commodification. The apparatus of these industries and the language surrounding them are used as a material to create work that explores and defamiliarizes everyday forms of exploitation. She works across a range of media, including text, sculptural installation and most notably video. She has exhibited work in shows such as Surveyor(2020) at Solstice Arts Centre and In the making: Appraisal(2020) at Pallas Projects/Studios, and has received an Arts Council Agility Award(2022).

Follow the artist at her website and Instagram.


Conor Connolly




Tendrils (2016) Detail


Like a plant seeking the sunlight, the seeker must instead plunge
into the darkness and send questing tendrils deep underground to plumb
the depths of occult knowledge, and through the use of rituals and
perseverance unearth the seeds of new wisdom.


Artist Bio:

I'm a self-taught artist, based in Dublin, with professional experience in Graphic Design and Publishing. My academic background includes Literature, Classics, and Psychology. I am also active in the Dublin dark alternative music scene, as DJ and club promoter/organiser, since the 90s. Generally, whether it's music books, art, TV, or movies, if it's dark and twisted I'll probably like it.

Follow the artist on his Instagram and Facebook. 


Conor Mary Foy




Seekers (2015)
Seekers is a narrative video piece which follows two hooded figures tensely pursuing two others through a dark forest. Conor Mary Foy’s artwork uses baroque and rich visual language and strong intuitive narratives to engage the audience. His work explores related themes from his research and interests including: folk culture, fictions, group dynamics, ritual, cults, sci-fi, and utopian societies.

Artist Bio:
Conor Mary Foy works in video, sculpture, sound, installation, live art, photography, drawing, print, and painting. He lives in Dublin and has exhibited widely including in recognised private galleries and publicly funded arts spaces in solo, two person and group exhibitions. His work has been acclaimed by public broadcasters and national press, and is featured in private collections. Foy is a graduate of NCAD and was the winner of the Temple Bar Gallery and Studies Recent Graduate Studio Residency 2014-2015.

Follow the artist at his website.


David Bickley





CULTIVATE (2021)

One of a series of works exploring abstract forms within natural imagery augmented by motion processing and an electronic score / sound design. This and others in the series were inspired by reading “The Alfred Wallis Factor” and general research into the St. Ives arts colony and the birth of abstraction in the area known as West Penwith (a place where a lot of my own work has been conceived and created). The creative / technical process to make these works is extremely arcane & complex and each new incarnation of this style is part of journey of discovery / rediscovery to help build a new calligraphy of process.

Artist Bio:
"We look but we don't always see. David Bickley's generous and beautiful work reminds us what we are missing..." Carmel Winters, film maker, Snap Artist, filmmaker and composer — currently film artist in residence at CCI Paris 2022. My work has a marked foundation in landscape, using ideas mined from nature-myth and folklore, and the curation of these, to inform and evolve the texture of lives, and the resurrection, resuscitation of ancient motif.

Work exhibited / screened —
Revision, Belfast; Cork
International, Seattle Office of
Arts; Glucksman & Crawford, Cork; Signs of the Night; Paris Film Festival; Bibart Biennale; Coventry Cathedral; Black Box Tehran; Luminous Void; Mart, Projection mapping for Paralympics in Japan and “The Burning of Cork” centenary.
Awarded Best Experimental Film, Europe Film Festival; BAI documentary award; Best Director, Fastnet; O2 Digital Media Award.
Recent collaboration, Suzy Moxhay (UK, RA), Hina Kahn (Pakistan) and Shi Yu Pai (US / Korea).
Documentary arts film, The Man Who Shot Beckett (RTÉ Beckett 100) and The Celtic Songlines (BAI).
Composed the ambient score for Architects of the Air's Luminarium and Ridley Scott’s The Terror; founder and creative force behind Hyper[borea] (Hot Press Award).

Musical collaborations inc; Hans Joachim Roedelius (Cluster), Tom Green (The Orb), Dónal Lunny, Interference and Black (Wonderful Life).

Follow the artist on his website and bandcamp.



Dead Craftsman





Confession (2020)

Dead Craftsman is wondering between the boundaries  of slumber land and land of living, collecting the waste elements of pop culture and incorporating them with cut and shattered bits of photographs taken by his own camera. Firmly refusing to be called an artist, Dead Craftsman is using modern technology to pay homage to anonymous masters of medieval visual arts. As he claims, constant battle between sacrum and profanum  became main inspiration of all collage works produced in recent years.

Email Soul Noir at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more information about the artist. 


Diana Chambers





Woman (2022)

Diana Chambers is a painter based in Kilkenny and part of the KCAT studio. In 'Woman' the artist depicts a female figure in the ritual of garment making at  a sewing  machine.

Artist Bio:
After having participated in a number of visual arts courses at KCAT over the years, Diana joined the studio group in 2015. She is a prolific painter who takes her inspiration from sourced imagery and objects.

Follow the artist at her website here


Dolorosa de la Cruz




Red Goddess with Sun Mask (2016)

Dolorosa de la Cruz is a visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland. Her art is an ongoing enquiry into spiritual, magical and esoteric matters, through the female sensibility. Capturing phantastical and talismanic presences, observing their mysteries and sexualities, through drawing, sculpture, object making.

Follow the artist at her Instagram.




Eoin O’ Callaghan




Acceptance (2021)

Perhaps the most common ritual practised by all cultures and religions is mourning the dead. Those rituals, as varied as they might be, at their heart, all serve the same purpose: to help those who remain behind accept that a loved one has passed on. The final work of art is entirely handmade, a single strand of exceptionally fine, high-quality thread is wound between 500 pins. The pattern of over 4000 steps was generated by the artist working in tandem with a custom computer program. The unbroken thread measures 2.75km in length. The work is 40x50cm and it was completed in August 2021.

Artist Bio:

I have always loved both the artistic and the analytical. When I was introduced to computers at an early age I delved into all forms of digital art. When I later learned to program, I taught myself the fundamental principles of how these algorithms worked and how to recreate them myself. In college I studied for a degree in mathematics, followed by a PhD in a branch of algorithmic mathematics. When I learned of the artist and how he combines both digital and physical art I knew I had to figure it out for myself. Starting from a photograph, a custom mathematical algorithm drives a computer program to generate a prediction of how the physical artwork will look. Working in tandem with the program, I carefully tune and optimise the photograph to produce the best result possible. Finally, a pattern is created which guides a human hand to create a three-dimensional artwork. The result is not a two-dimensional image, but a three-dimensional creation with a depth and a structure which changes with both the lighting of its environment and the perspective of the viewer.
I adopted the name raythreading to capture the essence of this form of art. It is inspired by raytracing, a form of computer art where an image is rendered by tracing how rays of light bounce around an environment. In raythreading, rays of thread appear to bounce from pin to pin in a dance which, in the microscopic appears to be pure chaos, but in the macroscopic is highly choreographed to create a work of art capable of capturing humanity, nature, and the abstract.

Follow the artist on his website and Instagram. 


Felix Faulkner





Black Cat Oil (2015)

This piece was designed as a container for personal and precious totemic items. The contents can be assigned significance by the holder of the box or indeed, changed for other totems. The materials used have little intrinsic value but the design and function make it an object to treasure.

Artist Bio:

I am a jewellery designer/maker and artist, trained as a goldsmith, in Zimbabwe and Germany. My work has been widely exhibited in the UK and Ireland and I was 2006 RDS National Craft Competition group winner (Mixed metals). I became interested, some years ago, in the rise in popularity of alternative attitudes towards philosophies, beliefs, wellbeing and aesthetics. This led to a series of pieces based on shamanistic practices, including totems and talismans and the piece on show was developed from this exploration.

Follow the artist at his Facebook.



Fergus Fitzgerald



The National Gallery (2022)

Fergus Fitzgerald is a painter based in Kilkenny and a member of the KCAT studio. He has a strong interest in history and architecture as we can see his work The National Gallery (2022).

Artist Bio:

Originally from Dublin, Fergus is now settled in Camphill Carrick-on-Suir. Having worked through the KCAT part-time course and Open studio group, he has now joined the Studio full time. Fergus is an avid traveller, particularly to Italy, and this location greatly informs his work. A lover of linguistics and books, Fergus enjoys thoroughly researching his subjects for paintings.

Follow the artist at his website.



Glenn McQuiad (Witchboard) and Austin Hearne



It’s Been Emotional (2017)

Witchboard grew out of an obsession with Night Music, particularly post punk bands like Tones on Tail and early Cocteau Twins. DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing has also influenced the project in terms of the hunt for, and use of, esoteric samples. Though the name of the project comes from the 1986 Movie, it also hints at the deeper undercurrent within the music, something ritualistic and magic that awaits those that dare. Album cover by artist Austin Hearne.

Artist Bio’s:

Glenn McQuaid’s feature film debut I SELL THE DEAD, starring Larry Fessenden, Dominic Monaghan, and Ron Perlman, saw a healthy international film festival run before its release by IFC Films in the US and Anchor Bay in Canada, UK, and Australia. The film was well received by critics and has become a favorite among fans of horror comedy. McQuaid has since contributed the anthology segments Tuesday the 17t to V/H/S, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and The Trouble with Dad to Chiller TV’s Chilling Visions: Five States of Fear. Since 2011, McQuaid, together with Larry Fessenden, has produced the popular audio-drama series, and now podcast, TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE, which features performances from Vincent D'onofrio, Sean Young, Lance Reddick, Misha Collins, Ron Perlman, Tony Todd,  James Le Gros and a regular stable of performers. As well as scoring music for Tales From Beyond the Pale McQuaid makes music under the Witchboard moniker, which he describes as “ambient goth music”, he is also one half of avant-garde band Satin Shadow, a collaboration with Irish artist, Austin Hearne. McQuaid has received Communicator Awards for excellence in writing and directing as well as been awarded best audio drama series in 2016 for Tales from Beyond the Pale Season 3 (The 2017 NYF International Radio Program Awards).He is currently working on The Restoration at Grayson Manor.

Follow the artist on his Soundcloud.


Austin Hearne is an Irish artist living in Dublin. In 2021 he collaborated on a music project Satin Shadow with film maker and music producer Glenn McQuaid with a live stream performance in The Complex as part of Tanad Aaron and Mark Swords exhibition Portico. His film work Whispers was recently shown on RTÉ Culture (online) with an essay about the work in VAN. In 2022 Austin had solo shows in Gorey School of Art and The Complex. He was part of two Queer themed group shows in The Luan Gallery and Ballina Arts Centre. In November 2022 he has a large solo show in The RHA, titled Requiem for Raymo. He currently holds a project studio in Temple Bar Galleries and Studios.

Follow the artist on his website and Instagram.


Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies





Lifting the Veil: Voices of Our Community Talk, 2022 speaker , 6 – 7pm, November 1st

Dara Downey lectures in American and Gothic literature in Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University. Her research focuses on domesticity in American Gothic. She is the editor of The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies(online, open-access), and writing a literary biography of Shirley Jackson (Palgrave, 2024). Downey will discuss the journal's history and future alongside her own individual research and work.

Speaker Bio:

Dara Downey lectures in English in Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University. She is the author of American Women’s Ghost Stories in the Gilded Age (2014), editor of The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, and co-editor (with Ian Kinane and Elizabeth Parker) of Landscapes of Liminality: Between Space and Place (2016). She is currently working on a literary biography of Shirley Jackson for Palgrave Macmillan’s Literary Lives series, and is also researching the depiction of domestic servants in American Gothic.

Follow Dr. Dara Downey on her blog and Twitter. 


Journal Background:

The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies (ISSN 2009-0374) is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, open-access, online scholarly publication dedicated to the study of gothic and horror literature, film, new media, and television. It is published on an annual basis (with some delays as a result of the pandemic).


Follow the Journal on the official website and Twitter.


John Coffey





You Can Cast All Your Troubles to the Wind (Girl on a Swing) (2022)

This painting has had two lives. Its first incarnation was bright and breezy (but sadly had no swing). Now, after a series of 'chance' alterations, the artist shows us a new version of the painting, as if 'in a glass darkly'.

Artist Bio:
At the turn of the century, John Coffey was making performance/video art. Now, after a long hiatus, he is painting landscapes. Recently, his work has been selected for exhibition by the Royal Ulster Academy and has been acquired for the collection of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

Follow the artist on his Facebook. 


Michael Keane



Draco Tenebris (2020)

My sculpture for Soul Noir is inspired by the myth of the gothic period. Dragons, gargoyles, grotesques and keystones were placed on buildings to keep away evil spirits. I sculpted Draco Tenebris in ceramic clay. It was fired in a kiln at 1,160° and then finished with an iron oxide to give an aged, mystical look.

Artist Bio:
Michael works mostly in bronze or clay. He is very much at home with representational, figurative and animal sculpture. Michael is based in Dublin, Ireland, where he has his workshop. He creates his sculpture both by himself and in collaboration with other artists, e.g., in the case of large-scale projects over the years. With a certificate in fine art and an advanced diploma in fine art sculpture, Michael has accumulated vast experience in bronze casting, ceramics, portraiture and mould making. Influenced by classical sculptors and more modern sculptors like Rodin, Alberto Giacometti and the animal sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, Michael is always evolving his art form.

Follow the artist on his website. 


Michelle Hannah


SHADE and BLACKCAT (2022)


Michelle Hannah (she/they) is an artist, performing creature, dank sound maker, photographer, and occasional curator type. Currently Leo born & living in Glasgow. At the core of their practice is the exploration into the detritus of queer futurity and cosmic pessimism within the Anthropocene; through expanded photography, 3D imagery, sound, artificial intelligence, speculative text, moving image and durational performance.


Exhibited and performed at places such as:
Talbot Rice Gallery Edinburgh, HOME Manchester, CGP London, ZKU Berlin, Central St Martins London, DCA Dundee, BALTIC Newcastle, Minsheung Art Museum Shanghai, Artlicks London, Tyneside Cinema Newcastle, Suttie Arts Aberdeen, GOMA Glasgow, The Royal Standard Liverpool, ESW Edinburgh, The Cooper Gallery Dundee, Dresden Film Festival, TULCA Festival Galway, and curated events for the Glasgow Film Festival, nightclub ROST, No Bounds Radio in London and other future ventures.

Follow the artist at their Instagram.


Mona Power




Self Portrait with Ectoplasm (2020)


In Self Portrait with Ectoplasm (2020) she employs the Anthotype process, a 17th century method of image production involving sunlight and plant pigments. The resulting image is highly sensitive to light, and can only be preserved in darkness. This work was inspired by the book Phantasmagoria by Marina Warner, in which the author delves into the history of spirit mediums and spiritual photography. The ephemerality of the work will cause it to fade over the course of this exhibition.

Artist Bio:
Mona Power is a multidisciplinary artist of German-Irish descent. Her work is process-driven and investigative, touching on the folklore and science of the natural world.

Follow the artist on her website and Instagram. 


Olive Barrett





Positive negative (2022)Detail


The works represent light and dark, positive and negative in nature and in our lives. The textile print installation is taken from sketches of shadows from trees while the form and the flow of the fabric to the ground represents the flow and energy of a waterfall.  Here the work represents life cycles, continuity and renewal.  The light cannot be, only for the existence of darkness and a balance and movement cannot be achieved without acknowledging that both positive and negative exists.

Though positive is day, negative is night,
Later is dark and former is bright.

Without darkness there is no meaning of bright,
Day has no meaning without night.

-Kumarmani Mahakul

Artist Bio:
“I often work in a variety of media and materials, the idea forming the focus as to what media is chosen and used. My practice explores our daily lives and rituals with an ever increasing interest in the expression of movement within a given time and space. Recent work has seen a return to drawing and painting exploring our connection to the natural world, in direct contrast to the urban environment in which I now live.”

Olive Barrett is a Tipperary artist based in Dublin and is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design with a Post Graduate in Art and Design Education and B. Des in Textiles, specialising in Print. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in countries including, Germany, the USA, Thailand and Italy and is part of collections in Ireland and abroad.

Follow the artist on her Instagram.


Pádraig Ó Nualláin  (Special Commission)





Songs of Georgian Dublin, Performance Lecture, November 1st 1-2pm.

Pádraig Ó Nualláin is a traditional singer from Dublin with a keen interest is social history. His work includes song and visual presentation detailing the stories behind the songs.The Soul Noir performance will include songs and tales, some true, of serial murderers, executions, hauntings, grave robbing and madness.

Artist Bio:
Pádraig Ó Nualláin is a traditional singer from Dublin with a keen interest is social history. He is a graduate of Ceoltóir, HND in traditional music at Ballyfermot College of Higher education. His previous work includes song and visual presentation detailing the stories behind the songs. His performances include Dublin songs 18th to 20th century. He has performed at the Jonathan Swift festival, Arthurs, The Pipers Club, Christchurch Cathedral music room and in various libraries around Dublin amongst other venues. He also regularly attends and sings at “An Góilín” traditional singers club in the Teachers club and “The Night Before Larry Got Stretched” traditional singers club at The Cobblestone. The Soul Noir performance will include songs and tales, some true, of serial murderers, executions, hauntings and grave robbing.


Contact Soul Noir at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more information about the artist.


Pat Byrne




Battles in the Sky (2020)

Pat Byrne is an oil painter based in Laois holding an MFA from NCAD. Battles in the Sky shows a Sluagh mask, roughly based on a crows face, hanging on a coat hanger by the black ribbons used to fix it to the figures face.

Artist Bio:
Pat Byrne’s oil paintings explore Irish folklore and superstitions, taking mythological humanoids and reinterpreting them in a more realistic and contemporary fashion as opposed to the figures of parody that they are generally portrayed as in other media. Due to a lack of interest or belief in this world, he portrays these figures of myth as being people living a life of ennui, living on the mythological equivalent of the dole queue.

Originally from Laois, Pat moved to Galway in 2006 to study Fine Art at GMIT, where he graduated in 2010 with BA Honours Degree, having specialised in painting. He remained in Galway for almost a year afterwards as one of the founding members of the artist group A-merge. In 2011 Pat returned to Laois having been awarded a studio by Laois County Council in Mountrath where he worked for a little over a year, during this time he held his first solo exhibition, had his first experience curating a group show and was awarded a place on the Artist in Schools Scheme. In June 2012 Pat moved to Skagastrond, Iceland for a 3 month stay with Nes Artist Residency, returning to Ireland Pat took up a place in the Mountrath studio again in September for the year before starting an MFA at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in September 2013. Pat graduated from NCAD with aMasters in Fine Art in 2015 and is currently based in Laois. Pat’s most recent exhibitions have been a solo exhibition, From Under the Hill, at Tallaght Library, curated by Sinead Keogh in November 2021, and 2 group shows, Ranelagh Summer Open at Ranelagh Arts, July 2022 and Custom House Studios Summer Exhibition, August, 2022.

Follow the artist on his website, Twitter  and Instagram.



The Hardliners





Reading of commissioned works, 2.30 – 3.30pm, November 1st

Soul Noir is very pleased to present a special presentation by The Hardliners writing collective.


Magic words, magic tales. A special invited reading from The Hardliners writing group.The Hardliners are a writing group of Vision Impaired People or more colloquially known as VIP'S. All of whom have a dark but very expressive imagination.The members have been commissioned (or posessed?) to make a selection of pieces for us to enjoy. The group members are: Anne O' Brien, Denis Fahey, Eugene Hancock, John O' Brien, Martin Kelly and Michael Hayes.


Contact Soul Noir at soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more information. 

Dark World





Core festival October/November with additional events throughout the year




Dublin Castle, additional venues






Soul Noir would like to thank our 2021  funder's Thank you for supporting the Gothic Arts in Ireland.

For full schedule of 2021  events/catalogue go to this link

Soul Noir 2021 was held in Dublin Castle in Bedford Tower, built in 1761, from October 31st - November 1st.

To echo these strange times, our theme for  2021 was  DARK WORLD and was reflective on the pandemic (plague) states of being we find ourselves globally submerged in a symbolic, political and environmental way. DARK WORLD was an introspective oracle on how we live and survive. 

Documentation by photographer Chad Alexander and Soul Noir. Thank you to everyone who came to the festival and to the artists themselves.

Our award winners were:

Audience Favourite - Michelle Harton
Best Emerging Artist - Brianna Hurley
Dark Heart Award - Daire Lynch
Best in Show - Isabella Oberlander


Our 2021 Festival artists were;

Ailbhe McDonagh

Ann Ensor

Breda Lynch

Brianna Hurley

Catherine Gavin

Conor Connolly

Cyril Helnwein

Daire Lynch

Dead Craftsman (please email soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more info)

Diana Chambers

Fergus Byrne

GalleryX with Curator Giovanni Giusti

Isabella Oberlander

James Leane

Jordan Hutchins (please email soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more info)

Michelle Harton

Miriam O’Connor

Moreau (please email soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more info)

Orla Connolly & Jens Weber

Pat Byrne

Sean Fitzgerald

Susan MacWillliam

and The Hardliners (please email soulnoirfestival@gmail.com for more info)

Soul Noir





Core festival October/November with additional events throughout the year



Tallaght Library, Castletymon Library and North Clondalkin Library



From Under the Hill a solo show by Pat Byrne in Tallaght Library from November 5th - 30th 2021



Our 2020 Festival comprised of a young adult workshop on how to start your own comic books with Gothic comic book artist and creator of After Yesterday Jaime Lalor. This workshop was in conjunction with Foróige and Tallaght Library and held on November 28th 2020.  Our puppet making workshops and visual arts solo exhibition with Pat Byrne were postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. 

You can find our full catalogue / schedule for 2020 and 2021 here.
(please note: some of the events listed were moved to 2021 due to the Covid 19 pandemic)

Soul Noir 2020 and it’s rescheduled programme in 2021  was held in conjunction with kind support from Creative Ireland via South Dublin Libraries, Tallaght Library, Castletymon Library and North Clondalkin Library. Soul Noir would also like to thank GalleryX for their support.

Documentation by Soul Noir.  Thank you to everyone who came to the festival and to the artists themselves.



Puppets made by children at North Clondalkin Library

Puppets made by children at Tallaght Library




Our 2020 Festival artists were;

Pat Byrne

Puppet workshop coordinator Aoibhinn O’Dea

Jaime Lalor

The children/young artists  at Tallaght and North Clondalkin Libraries. (If you are a parent of) or are one of these young artists and would like to be credited) just email us with your permissions.