CONNECTING PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY: Q&A WITH JACKIE HOYSTED

Jackie is the curator of June 2016 exhibition “Repression, Resurgence, Reemergence,” and the head of Visual Arts Programming for Solas Nua.

As the Director of Visual Arts for Solas Nua, the only non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to contemporary Irish arts, what is the most rewarding aspect of your position?

I really enjoy seeking out Irish artists and becoming familiar with their work and processes. It is very rewarding to be able to connect with them and create opportunities to showcase their work here in the US.  I think there is a great community of visual artists, creating really good work in Ireland and it makes me very proud to showcase it here.

Within your bio, it is stated that you are a native of Ireland and currently reside locally, in Maryland. How have your personal experiences with Irish identity impacted the process of putting together “Repression, Resurgence, Reemergence”?

Pulling together the show really made me think hard about who is Irish and that is reflected in the artists I selected to participate in the show.  I’ve been living in the US for twenty years now and and prior to that I lived in the UK and France but I still think of myself very much as Irish, even though here is my home now. So the mix of participants in the show comprises a selection of artists born and still living in Ireland; artists who have emigrated there and who have made it their home plus people like me who emigrated but has strong ties to Ireland and also some generational Irish-Americans who maintain strong cultural connections.

While curating this exhibition, were there any emotions or messages in the artwork or in your reception of pieces that surprised or challenged you?

I connected with all of the work at some level as each artist’s work spoke to me in different ways. I relate strongly to Helen O’Leary’s work which is about “making do” – I came from a relatively poor household so there was never any such thing as buying something , or wanting or getting. You just made do or made it yourself. I also particularly connected with Vanessa Donoso Lopez’s beautiful drawings. Vanessa is a Catalan artist living in Dublin and her work speaks about being an emigrant and living life through a second language. Some of her drawings show her moving with all her possessions  and it reminds me of how many times I moved homes as I moved to and from different countries. It seemed that my moving boxes were almost more important than my possessions.  She also talks about a living “diluted” life because she has to communicate through a second language and wonders what she misses out on by not understanding subtleties. Her experience reminds me of the years I lived in France and how I struggled communicating in another language.

Many of your own pieces include interactive elements. This exhibition consists of visual arts of many different forms. Due to the highly personal yet collective nature of the subject, personal national identity, do you view this exhibition as a different form of “interaction”? Why or why not?

I hadn’t thought of this but I definitely wanted the gallery audience to connect physically and psychologically with the work – whether that is peering at smaller work to discover what is really going on, standing back to take in a larger work, putting on headphones to be quiet and listen to sound of voices reading different text or staring looking at a video and wonder what is going on. Hopefully by having different experiences with each artwork, it encourages the viewer to wonder and ask more about what is behind the works.