This solo exhibition by the London-based, Irish artist Marianne Keating, brings together new and recent film-works that explore overlaps, similarities and divergences between Irish and Caribbean colonial experiences. Keating’s practice-based research addresses the complex, often overlooked histories of the Irish diaspora in the Caribbean through their archival residues; and lays bare the enduring legacies of British imperialism. As part of this exhibition, The Model will present the Irish première of a new film by Keating entitled An Ciúnas / The Silence, 2023, a three-channel film installation that traces multiple trajectories of migration from Ireland to both Jamaica and Britain, from before the Great Famine of 1845-52 and up to the present day. The film considers the complex intersecting impact of that process on contemporary Jamaican politics, and the relationship between Ireland and England since Irish independence. An Ciúnas / The Silence, which was initially presented by The Showroom in London in 2023, re-examines these narratives through the lens of Irish and Jamaican anti-colonial ties.

Áilleacht Uafásach / A Terrible Beauty will feature two other recent film works by Keating, including A Beautiful Dream, 2020-2022, which explores the way in which Ireland’s fight for self-determination mirrored similar movements in other colonies of the British Empire, and gained the support of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Also on view will be Landlessness, 2017-2022, a two-channel film that analyses the migration of Irish Indentured Labourers during the period 1835-1842, tracing their recruitment in Ireland to their final destination on the plantation of Freeman’s Hall Estate, in Jamaica.

These films will be accompanied by a number of other artworks by Keating, as well as archival material that excavates threads of both the Jamaican and Irish colonial experiences. Including the 2011 film Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens, by Deborah A. Thomas and John L. Jackson, Jr. that explores the history of violence against Rastafari under the new Independent Jamaican Government led by Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante.

Marianne Keating is an Irish artist and researcher, based in London. She has a practice-based PhD in Visual & Material Culture and Contemporary Art Practice from Kingston University London, entitled, 'They don't do much in the cane-hole way', Hidden Histories of the Irish Diaspora in Jamaica. Keating has exhibited extensively, with presentations at The Showroom, London; the Whitechapel Gallery, London; Crawford Art Gallery; RAMPA, Portugal; South London Gallery; Barbados Museum and Historical Society, amongst many other galleries and museums.

An Ciúnas / The Silence was initially presented by The Showroom, London, in 2023-24. The Irish tour of the work is initiated and organised by SIRIUS, Cobh, County Cork. The production of An Ciúnas / The Silence and its Irish tour are supported by The Arts Council.