Rita Duffy: "Neither here nor there"

An illustrated lecture by artist Rita Duffy.

Rita Duffy is an artist who questions conventional readings of the past, she upends the gestures and the symbols, acting as a divining rod for the alternative ‘truth’. Crucially she messes with the ideas on which conflict has often rested – in doing this, she suggests that the conflict itself arises from shifts that are universal in nature, that have their roots in something more primeval, be it changes of world order, in the role of women among many others. Rita will deliver an illustrated lecture on the theme of ‘neither here nor there’ to accompany the launch of her exhibition ‘The Souvenir Shop’. She is also organising an afternoon workshop on 27th March. Registration is required for both events through the festival website.

Rita Duffy is one of Northern Ireland’s foremost artists, renowned for her feminist work on the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ (1968-98) and Irish history. She received her BA and MA in Fine Art from the University of Ulster. In 1990 she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Royal Ulster Academy, in 2005 she was an Associate Reader at Goldsmiths, and between 2009-10 she held a Leverhulme Fellowship with the Transitional Justice Institute (Ulster University), researching the role of visual art in post-conflict societies. Her work has been exhibited internationally, from the Ulster Museum and Dublin’s Hugh Lane, to London’s Flowers Gallery and Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.