Pictured L-R: Dr Julie Morrissy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow on PATHOS; Dr Ailbhe McDaid, Principle Investigator on PATHOS and Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature at MIC; and Leah Smith, PhD Researcher on PATHOS. Photo credit: Clare Keogh
Mary Immaculate College (MIC) recently launched the first public-facing initiative of Pathologies of Violence: Inscriptions of Global Conflict in Irish Literature 1922-present (PATHOS), a four-year research project funded by Research Ireland, through a landmark workshop series in collaboration with the award-winning Glucksman Gallery in Cork.
The project centres on how conflict shapes creative practice and is led by Dr Ailbhe McDaid—Assistant Professor in MIC’s Department of English Language and Literature, who was awarded over €590,000 through the Research Ireland Pathway Fellowship to undertake this major investigation.
PATHOS explores how global conflict is expressed through Irish art and literature by working directly with Irish and Irish-based artists whose work is in response to contemporary and historical conflict. The first stage of the project sees a series of workshops take place in the Glucksman, bringing together 13 creative practitioners working across a range of disciplines.
Participants in the series include visual artists, musicians, playwrights, filmmakers and writers: Atoosa Pour Hosseini, Bassam Issa Al-Sabah, Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, Ciarán O’Rourke, Dragana Jurišić, Eoghan Ryan, Evgeny Shtorn, Hannah Khalil, Miriam de Búrca, Olesya Zdorovetska, Paul McKinley, Rita Duffy, and Suad Aldarra.
Through methodologies of walking, dialogue and shared reflection, these workshops investigate the role of art in responding to conflict, touching on topics such as representation, production, dissemination, protest/activism, and proximities to conflict. Global conflicts including Palestine, Syria, Ukraine and others are at the heart of the discussions.
Designed and facilitated by Dr McDaid and Dr Julie Morrissy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow on PATHOS, the workshops form the foundations for several public events and research publications. These include the PATHOS Charter co-created with the workshop participants, entitled Guiding Principles on Engaging with Conflict through Literature and Art. The charter will offer practical tools and considerations for organisations engaging with artists working on themes related to conflict.
Dr Ailbhe McDaid commented: “This Guiding Principles document foregrounds artists’ values and concerns through a series of questions to help consider how to best support creative practitioners making work in response to conflict. Centred around values of care and protection, the publication aims to help artists and organisations to deliver ethical, considerate and impactful exhibitions and projects.”
Prof. Fiona Kearney, Director of the Glucksman, praised the collaboration and its potential to reach wider audiences: “Through the PATHOS project, Ailbhe McDaid is leading on groundbreaking research that explores artistic methodologies and the representation of conflict. The Glucksman has been honoured to collaborate with her in hosting workshops that have enabled empathic discussions with literary and visual artists on the impact of making work in this area for creative practitioners and public audiences. We are excited to collaborate with Ailbhe and Julie Morrissy further to extend this project into the civic space of the museum.”
PATHOS began in 2024 and will continue until 2028, producing interdisciplinary outcomes including a public exhibition, literary events, multi-media dissemination and a publicly-available digital repository. The project is supported by a full research team including Dr Morrissy as Postdoctoral Fellow and Leah Smith as PhD Researcher.
To learn more about the PATHOS project, visit: https://www.pathos-project.com
