UPHOLD: New Collections
UPHOLD: New Collections was a group exhibition that brought together artwork made by some of Northern Ireland’s most exciting contemporary artists, designers and collectives.
New Collections offered an opportunity to view and purchase works by the 25 practitioners and two artist collectives represented on UPHOLD, our not-for-profit online platform for selling and promoting the work made by artists based or working in Northern Ireland.
This exhibition included existing work, new works and editions commissioned especially for UPHOLD, and two new editions created in response to some of the themes of Outburst Queer Arts Festival 2022.
Works in New Collections address themes and issues such as displacement, belonging and nostalgia; transgression and resistance; individual and collective expressions of self; queer identity and desire; nature, the body and society through a variety of media including photography, sculpture, painting, textiles, print, ceramics, drawing, design, and installation.
New Collections opened on Thursday 3 November 2022 ran until Sunday 20 November 2022 at 35DP on Donegall Place, Belfast.
Exhibiting artists, designers and collectives included Aisling O’Beirn, Alex Synge, Array Collective, Bassam Al-Sabah, Dorothy Hunter, Emma Wolf-Haugh, Grace McMurray, Hannah Casey-Brogan, Helena Hamilton, Jan McCullough, Jennifer Mehigan, Jill Quigley, John Macormac, John Rainey, Katie Watchorn, Mark Mcgreevy, Martin Boyle, Michael Hanna, Miguel Martin, Phillip McCrilly, Rachael Campbell-Palmer, Sean Greer, Soft Fiction Projects, Susan Connolly, Susan Hughes, Tara McGinn, and Thomas Wells.
This exhibition was made possible with the generous support of the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, Esther Haller-Clarke at Haller-Clarke, Bywater, Ashmore, 35DP, Outburst Queer Arts Festival, and Arts and Business.
Photography below by Chad Alexander
Clothes for queer cruisers - Trans - Later -, 2022, Emma Wolf-Haugh, Dimensions variable, customised, hand bleached, second hand denim jackets, machine embroidery, metal parts.
Yellow Uh Oh, 2022, Michael Hanna, 26 (h) x 22 (w) x 1 (d), Handmade vacuum form (High Impact Polystyrene)
#1 #2 #4 from the series Constructions, 2019, Jan McCullough, 72cm x 58cm, Framed archival pigment print (dibond mounted)
Series of 20 unique mugs, Jennifer Mehigan, Custom printed mug, 2022
Traces of an Activity, 2021, Susan Connolly, 17.5x12.5x1.5cm, Acrylic on canvas
SOCIAL SOLO WOES, 2022, Alex Synge, 105mm (H) x 148mm (W), Hot foiled in one colour onto 540gsm Imperial Blue Colorplan card. Blind debossed on reverse and signed and numbered by artist. Hand printed by Typoretum.
Making Space, 2021, Soft Fiction Projects, Risograph Print on Favini Alga Carta.
Chips with everything, Thomas Wells, installation, Digital prints on china plate, Print on fabric, dimensions variable, 2022.
Debris, 2021, Rachael Campbell-Palmer, 65 x 55 x 50mm, Jesmonite AC730 acrylic modified cementitious composite in Silver Grey Granite. Acid-etched surface finish, combined with Polyester casting resin.
Get Away From It All, 2022, Katie Watchorn, Poster: 59.4cm (h) x 42cm (w) Cast: Each approx 64cm (L) x 25cm (w), Cast aluminium, colour digital print on 260gsm silk and coated acetate, foil sticker, jubilee clip.
Chips with everything, Thomas Wells, installation, Digital prints on china plate, Print on fabric, dimensions variable, 2022.
My mind yields easily, To the unrelenting pressure of the sun, However there are flashes, In front of the sun I fully exist, Bassam Al Sabah, 2021 Archival print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
Tessellation 04, 2022, Martin Boyle, 37.6cm (h) x 28cm (w), laser engraved birch plywood, acrylic paint.
Mark McGreevy, Series of paintings, Oil on canvas, dimensions variable.
Exhibition shot, 35DP, Belfast, 2022
Exhibition shot, 35DP, Belfast, 2022
Spilled Milk #7, 2022. Tara McGinn, 17x22x17cm, Terracotta clay, acrylic paint, polymer relief outliner (various), acrylic ink, water based gloss varnish.
Erroneous Restoration Study #1, John Rainey, Jesmonite and 3D Print, 24 x 9.5 x 6.8 cm
Whereas, 2022, Dorothy Hunter, 34cm (w) x 25.5cm (h), Laser etched copper laminate, frame.
Silo & Calf Shed, 2015, Jill Quigley, 29.7 x 21cm, Pigment print on perspex.
Brompton Swim, 2022, Susan Hughes, 49.5cm (h) x 45cm (w), Screenprint and Hi-Vis paint wash on ‘South Bank Smooth’ white 250gsm paper
Beer Mats, from The Druthaibs Ball, Array Collective, Turner Prize, The Herbert Coventry Museum, 2021.
Convective Rain & Peach moon, 2022, Hannah Casey Brogan, gouache and pen on Bristol paper
A series of 13 unique knitted wool pieces mounted on wood, Grace McMurray, Wool, Wooden Board, 2022.
DRKTHRNE, 2016, Miguel Martin, 36 x 26.5 cm, Indian ink on watercolour paper.
![Ambient Explosion [Camera01_Frame800], Helena Hamilton, Fine Art Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Matt Fibre paper 200 gsm, 2022.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64c8eb9471a0b0659915ba88/79769a05-7f92-43b7-a28d-6e9e3096508f/UPHOLD_2022_-14.jpg)
Ambient Explosion [Camera01_Frame800], Helena Hamilton, Fine Art Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Matt Fibre paper 200 gsm, 2022.
Scorn Flakes 01, 2022, Sean Greer, 59.4 x 84.1 cm, Giclée print on Hahnemuhle FineArt Hemp 290gsm