Psychogeography
Psychogeography explores how places and spaces shape our mood and our behavior as we experience them. The term was first coined by the Marxist theorist Guy Debord in 1955, a founding member of the Situationist movement who were a group of revolutionary minded artists that aimed to make radical culture a direct part of daily life. They were a strong influence on the British punk movement of the 1970s.
Debord, and others influenced by him, have largely been concerned with large urban environments. For example the science fiction writer JG Ballard set certain of his books in post industrial urban landscapes which progressively instil a sense of alienation in his protagonists and a return to primal instincts. He later became interested in the effects of globalised transient environments, such as airports, shopping malls and large hotel chains, on our psychology.
As Ireland is very much a rural country with deep links to its ancient past we thought it might be interesting for this exhibition to turn our attention to how rural environments, which are both natural and man-made, might influence our mental state.
SARAH VANDEMEER
Sarah VanDermeer, is a multimedia artist based in Ireland. She specializes in painting, sculpture, performance, and poetry, exploring the intersections of mythology, memory, and the environment. Her practice is influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and surrealism. It is deeply informed by an interest in how human presence and environmental forces interact, shaping both physical and imagined spaces. She has a BFA in Sculpture from the Pratt Institute in New York and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Art and Ecology at Burren College of Art.
The Hedge Maze is a series of process-based paintings, accumulating research into nature and psychogeography and reinterpreting it within the constraints of a single imagined landscape —a hedge maze. Drawing on her experience of nighttime walks through the rural landscapes of County Clare, she explores the maze-like liminality of the hedgerow, mapping the psychology of place and the evolving relationship between humans and their environment. The work considers dream logic, the layers of deep time, and hauntology embedded within the landscape.
MICHAELA MCCANN
Michaela McCann is an oil painter and photographer, based in Cork, who recently graduated from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. Using Surrealist techniques and visual metaphors, she invites the viewer to see the world from a neurodivergent perspective, challenging any prejudices or preconceptions they may hold. Her work raises questions about how we perceive the things we see every day.
JAMES WELLWOOD
James Wellwood is a Kilkenny/Galway-based visual artist specializing in painting and sculpture. He recently graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design (TUS) with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting. Drawing from personal experiences growing up in rural Ireland, Wellwood’s work explores themes of isolation, memory, and nostalgia.
His work functions as a visual diary, documenting personal connections to the rural landscape, built and natural, that blend reality with abstraction and surreal constructs to evoke a sense of memory, distortion, and dreamlike ambiguity.
The farm where James grew up is a focal point of his practice — a landscape infused with the layered experiences of his childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. As a neurodiverse and queer artist, Wellwood’s perspective brings a distinctive lens to these traditionally conservative spaces.