‘Surface Tension’ charts my experience in the city of Paris within the contemporary political and environmental context of 2019. A year of Brexit, the Gilet Jaunes protests, the refugee crisis, climate crisis made mainifest in the Amazon rainforest fires, set against the historic confidence of Mitterrand’s ‘Grands Projets’ and the European Project. It documents a sea change in political normalcy and a new fragility of societal institutions and ideologies that once appeared certain. A documentation of an outsiders perspective of a foreign city, it recognises the subjective tension of mis-understanding and the limits of representation. A recognition of depth beyond a collection of surfaces.

This project was made with the support of:
The Arts Council of Ireland
Temple Bar Gallery + Studios
Institut Français
Cité International des Arts Paris